CHAPTER 8

"Okay, yeah I'll give you that they went a bit overboard. I would really like to talk to them about it but to be truthful they scare the hell out of me. Now if you want to talk to them about it... No? I thought not. That's just the way it is with those two. Really, brining up their rather unfortunate past is just so, well, trying."

-Alleged conversation between a 3WA liaison officer and an official of Amnesty Interstellar.

Kei leaned back in the chair and fought off the urge to put her feet up on the desk. She would have to thank Tamikia for providing her with the office space. Having ones own office provided a nice edge when you had to deal with planetary police forces. Usually the situation was reversed.

"Now what can I do for you corporal Laminsen?"

"That's Captain!" the angry woman snapped.

"How quaint," Kei said. "Now I believe you wanted to discuss something?"

"How about almost a billion in damages." She stood, slamming her hand on the desk. She was a plain woman though her anger brought out certain pleasing aspects in her features. Tall, thin, short blonde hair, blue eyes so dark they were almost black. Her uniform, knee length blue skirt, white blouse and blue jacket, was immaculate.

"Talk to the pilot of the Breem Six," Kei told her.

"I have, and you can bet your ass she's going to be punished for her actions. Something that you should think about." The Captain returned to her seat.

"You know," Kei decided to go on the offensive, "if you bunch of desk jockeys got off your asses Miss Jinnas wouldn't have to request outside help." She smiled sweetly.

"Why you little over-rated, under-dressed, psychopathic slut," the captain said from between clenched teeth. "What makes you think we couldn't handle this?"

"If we had not been here Miss Jinnas and her children would be goddess knows where and you'd be feeling stupid. Well, stupider than usual."

"There would also be several more buildings standing."

"We didn't take down any buildings."

"Your sonic boom certainly did. Several structures had their foundations cracked and have to be demolished for safety reasons."

"The other ship went mach first, we were simply following," Kei told her levelly. Suddenly she was the one fighting to keep her temper.

"Well that is certainly convenient, how about two helicopters and several cars just for starters?"

"An unfortunate accident, err, accidents, all of which stemmed from the fact we were in pursuit of criminals. We followed all the standard procedures. I suppose your people never caused damages during a high speed chase?"

"Not to the tune of one billion! But hell, I suppose we should be happy. Considering your past reputation we're lucky there is still a city there!"

"Say anything else about our 'reputation' and you'll pulling teeth out of the back of your throat." Her voice was surprisingly calm.

"Is that a threat?"

"It's a promise."

"Do you know the penalty for such a thing?"

"A week on the resort world of my choice, two weeks if I actually do it." Kei looked her straight in the eye.

"You think you're so hot, don't you?"

"At least I can get a date."

"I want the prisoner." The Captain said.

"Pardon?" Kei had expected something else.

"The prisoner. While I extend thanks for you capturing him," she drawled sarcastically, "he is to be turned over to me this instant."

"Fine, once we are finished interrogating him."

"No, now!" The captain pounded a fist on the desk.

Kei decided it would not be worth arguing the point or trying to take a stand.

"I'll go get him for you." Kei stood.

"I'll go with you." Captain Laminsen stood also.

"No you won't. We have him in a secure area of the house. Miss Jinnas has requested that it remain that way so unless you have a warrant..."

"Just go get him," the captain growled.

Kei left the office. She told the two guards standing out side the door to ensure that the captain did not do any site seeing. That taken care of she went to a nearby elevator.

She typed a code onto the keypad in the elevator then took it down to one of the deeper sub basements.

Kei had no idea why Tamikia needed a fully operable med lab and hospital in her house, but she was not really all that curious. It was deep underground, and full of all sort of toys that could convince people to talk. She stopped in front of a door and typed another code into the keypad beside it. If they were going to stay much longer, she thought, they would have to get the biometric scanners set for them.

The room was fairly large, but filled with so much medical equipment it felt cramped. Daniel had been strapped to a table in the centre of the room. The table had been raised so he was in a standing position. The wound on his shoulder had been bandaged but there was evidence of other damage.

On an instrument tray beside him were several laser scalpels, a pneumatic injector and a jumble of drug bottles.

"So has he decided to talk?" Kei asked Yuri.

"Beyond his name, the fact he was hired through a representative and that he was supposed to meet a ship in orbit for extraction, nothing."

"Check the ship?"

"Yes, there was a cargo ship in the location he gave me. It left the same time we took out the Breem. By the time he told me of it, the ship had already warped."

"That's all you've got out of him?"

"Yes."

"Daniel," Kei said as she turned towards him. "Do you want to tell us anything else?" She picked up a laser scalpel.

"Not particularly," he said as if he didn't have a care in the world.

"Give it up Kei. The toad has the most amazing resistance to pain. As for drugs, well he has enough filters in his body that the minute I pump something into him its neutralized."

"Can we overload the filters?"

"If you want him to die of an overdose," Yuri told her.

"Will he have time to talk?"

"Unfortunately no."

"We could surgically remove the filters." Kei pressed a switch on the laser scalpel and a blade of light formed around the tip.

"It would take days. There are years and years of work there."

"You are one of the most annoying men I have ever met." Kei turned off the laser scalpel and tapped his nose with it.

"And she's met a lot of men," Yuri supplied.

"I don't need your help." Kei glared at Yuri.

"Sorry."

Kei looked at him. Tough guy, she thought. She had seen it before. Between training and a great deal of bioware, pain and drugs did not work. There were of course always options.

"Daniel here's what we are going to do." Kei tossed the scalpel back onto the instrument tray, knocking the injector off. "First I'm going to drag you down the hallway to the mind surgery theatre. Then I'm going to make a brain tape off that thing you call a mind. Then, just for fun and because it will make me happy, I'll personally ash your body."

"After that Yuri and I will go down to the mind morgue and pick you out a nice new body. Something little and cute I think. You'll love it, and more importantly," she smiled evilly, "so will the people in the prison you're ending up in. After that we will see how well you stand up to pain and drugs."

That got a reaction. His pupils narrowed and his eyes widened. She had, for whatever reason, struck upon something that actually made him afraid. She did not know if it was the thought of losing his body, or the threat of the cute, little thing he might become, but something was tweaking the fear effect.

She was fine with that.

Unfortunately, after a few seconds passed, she could see, as scared as he was, Kei could tell he was not about to talk. He was a bad ass.

Okay, she would just have to ratchet up the stakes a little.

"I have a better idea." Kei smiled again as a better idea did in fact come to her. "Yuri do you remember Strieb?"

"Sure but what... Oh," Yuri said. She smiled a rather unpleasant smile.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see Daniel blanche slightly.

"Daniel I've decided against a human body. No, instead we'll go to a pet store and find the cutest, fluffiest little animal there is, put your mind tape into it, and then give you to a cosmetic testing lab."

"You wouldn't!" He was obviously afraid, and a sheen of sweat had broke out across his forehead.

"Try me bitch," Kei said sweetly.

"You know I always felt guilty that poor, innocent animals had to suffer for my make up needs. Much better that a guilty animal suffers," Yuri said in such a completely innocent tone that Kei believed that she might actually go through with it.

"Well Daniel, are you sure you don't want to talk?" Kei asked him. "Here comes Peter Cottontail..." she sung.

"You're a heartless bitch," he growled.

"Oh my virgin ears," Yuri said with mock shock.

"Less insults and more information or they'll be spraying perfume into your pinned open eyes Floppsy."

"Okay already," he shouted. "Enough. We were hired to do a kidnapping on Jinnas and her kids. We were told Catherine was the most important, than Susanne, than Tamikia. If we had to we could kill Tamikia and Susanne. Once we grabbed them we were to link up with a ship that would provide extraction. We would warp to a secured location where we would be paid. That is it, that is all there is to this."

"All well and good," Kei said quickly, wanting to maintain momentum on the questioning. "Who hired you?"

"I don't really know."

"Which name do you prefer, Fluffy of Snowball?"

"I had a pet kitty I loved named Fluffy," Yuri said maintaining her innocent tone. "Don't call him Fluffy."

"Snowball it is."

"It's the truth, I don't really know," Daniel said, panic in his tone.

"I doubt you'd take a job unless you knew who to finger if things went bad. Spill it."

"Whoever hired us went through so many intermediates it was impossible to back trace."

"I'm losing my patience," Kei told him. "You're about to lose your species."

"I knew that we'd have a lot of time while we were waiting for Thomas to scope the place out and get the information he needed to get us in," he said quickly. "I put one of my ferrets onto trying to trace our employer."

"So what did your ferret find out?" Kei asked.

"He'd make a cute ferret," Yuri said.

He looked nervously at Yuri and licked his lip. "She had a lot of trouble tracing the money and the information. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to muddy the trail, quite a few people were killed, and she almost lost it several times, but she did get a name."

"A name?" Kei looked at him.

"We don't even know if the name is the end of the trail, it was just where the trail ended."

"What was it?"

"Melkar."

"What else do you know?"

"That's it, I swear."

"I think you know more. Tell me or get ready to lose your prehensile thumbs."

"I swear that is all I know."

Kei looked over at Yuri. Yuri nodded.

"Okay Daniel boy, assuming that you've been truthful, we're done here."

"And if you decide that I haven't been?"

"Then Daniel, you'll get a visit from my partner and myself and while one would think that having us visit them would be a fantasy come true, it will be a nightmare for you. Understand?"

"Perfectly."

"Excellent." Kei picked up the laser scalpel.

"What are you going to do now?"

"We're going to give you to the police now that we're finished with you."

"You're giving me to the police?"

"They want you. You should probably not tell them anything that you've told us."

"You're asking me to lie to the police?"

"Heaven forbid," Kei said, as if she were startled. "I am just thinking that if you say nothing to the police than the people who hired you are less than likely to kill you for opening your big mouth. You don't want to be killed, do you?" She turned the scalpel on.

"Given a choice I would like to avoid it.

"Then we have something of an understanding, don't we?"

"Yes."

"Excellent." She cut the straps holding him to the table.

"Would you really have done what you said?"

Kei smiled. "I can promise you that we would never admit to having done such a thing."

"I thought as much." Daniel looked, almost as if he was thinking of trying to run. However when his gaze fell upon Yuri, and the pistol she held, his posture relaxed.

Kei cuffed him before he could change his mind.

The elevator soon had them up in the main levels of the house again. When the doors opened Kei, Yuri, and their prisoner found Captain Laminsen waiting for them.

The two guards Kei had talked to were flanking her with their weapons held in such a way that said they were not pointed at the Captain, but easily could be. Considering the Captain only had a service revolver, and the guards were in body armour, it was a very effective deterrent to her wandering.

"Captain Laminsen, so good of you to meet us, sorry it took so long." Kei smiled. "Here's your prisoner."

"How did he get those bruises?" the Captain asked, indicating his face.

"He fell down," Yuri told her. She was developing an immediate dislike for the Captain.

"I see an accident, like your weapon going off," Captain Laminsen said.

"Oooppsie," Yuri said.

Daniel suddenly smiled. "Ladies, you should really leave this police officer alone. After all, she is rather old, and the poor dear just has no idea how to dress, and..."

"Shut up!" Laminsen shouted into his face, loosing her cool. She reached forward and grabbed him.

Yuri might have laughed if not for the fact she did not like Daniel at all.

"You're going to be spending a very long time in prison." She spun him around and pushed him towards the exit.

"You think so Captain," he said as he was led off. "My lawyers will have me free in a few months top."

"We'll see," the captain said.

"He does have a certain style," Kei said, watching their diminishing forms.

"Not bad looking either," Yuri added.

"Too bad he is such a piece of crap."

"Come on. Let's go talk to Tamikia." Yuri turned and started towards Tamikia's office.

Tamikia sat at her desk, staring at her computer screens, but not really seeing them.

She was still slightly in shock from the day's events. It had not been the fist time an attempt on her life and freedom had been made, but it was the first time it had come so close to family and friends.

Poor Pell, she thought.

She had met Pell almost ten-years prior. He had tried to hijack one of her freighters, and he had come very close to succeeding. Dumping him out an airlock seemed such a waste of talent to Tamikia. She had offered him a job.

He had worked his way up in her organization, proving his loyalty many times. She had rewarded by making him her major-domo almost two years before. Now he was dead and the bastards who had done it had not even had the decency to let his body die with him.

"Oh Pell," she said softly into the cold light of her computer screens. "Once you were so sharp, they'd never have got you. Soft living took too much of your edge." Not much of a eulogy she thought.

"Are we interrupting anything?" Yuri said from the doorway of the office.

"No." She did her best to smile. "I'm just feeling sorry for myself. Come in."

"Thanks." Kei came in behind Yuri.

"So have you come up with anything?" Tamikia asked after they had taken seats.

"Maybe," Kei said, smiling slightly.

"Don't be coy!" Tamikia snapped, losing control of her emotions for a moment. If only they weren't so young she thought. They could almost be her daughters. Gods, what a mess that would be, she thought.

"Sorry," Yuri apologized.

"No." Tamikia leaned back in her chair and waved away the apology. "No, I'm sorry, it's just that..."

"We understand," Yuri told her.

"The information we have isn't much," Kei began. "We can't be totally sure of it and all we have is one name. Apparently whoever wants you laid down a pretty convoluted trail."

"Tell me what you have. If it doesn't mean anything to me then I have ties into almost every database in the known galaxy."

"Daniel told us the trail ended at a person called Melkar," Yuri told her.

"And that Catherine was their primary target," Kei added.

Tamikia hardly heard what Kei said. Her mind had just about stopped when Yuri had said, 'Melkar'.

"Are you all right?" Kei asked her.

"Sure," She said absently. She had no idea what she was saying.

"I take it you know the name." Yuri leaned forward.

"Pardon?"

"Planetary control to orbiting craft, please respond," Kei tried.

"What?" Tamikia looked at the two trouble consultants, suspecting the confusion she felt showed clearly on her face.

"If you don't warp back in I'll be forced to pump a stimulant or something into you," Yuri told her.

"I'm sorry. I was just lost in thought." Something of an understatement, but her mind was beginning to work again.

"So what's the story?" Kei put her foot against Tamikia's desk and kicked herself and the chair back and meter.

"I do know a Melkar, but I have trouble believing he could be involved. Well that's not entirely true, especially considering what you said about Catherine. I'd rather not believe he's involved." Tamikia was upset, and it was reflected in her tone of voice.

"So fill us in. And cut the cryptic comments, they are annoying."

Tamikia nodded, and actually laughed softly. She supposed that her actions and what she was saying had been confusing. "Okay. Sit back children." Tamikia stood and circled around her desk. "Let Aunty Tamikia tell you a story." She took a seat on the edge of her desk.

"Should I ask for a glass of milk?" Yuri stage-whispered to Kei.

"Why don't you go get your plush cat?" Kei stage-whispered back.

"Where to start?" Tamikia asked the air, spoiling any chance for Yuri to make another remark. "About twenty years ago, sometime after my seventeenth birthday my father ate the barrel of a revolver, which is a colourful way of saying he killed himself. A rather old fashioned way to end one's life but it was a rather old fashioned life.

"That left me in control of his moderately successful company that had dealt mostly in warp drives and thrust units. Being young and foolish I decided to expand.

"I borrowed heavily, using the company for collateral. The fact that I did this with quite a few banks was illegal. I'll not mince words about that. It's amazing what you can get away with when you have a good hacker to cover you trail. But you don't care about this.

"To make a long story short, I spent three years running around the galaxy, buying, investing in and even stealing anything with a profit potential, all the time hoping that my creditors and investors wouldn't suddenly realize what I had done. They found out eventually, but by then it was too late. I was in the fortune one hundred and paying back all my loans was a snap."

Tamikia sighed as she remembered those days. If a law had been made she had felt it was like a personal challenge for her to break it. Insider trading, black mailing, fraud, whatever worked. Of course she had spent four years in court after everything was done but she had had an entire law firm defending her.

"I'm telling you this because it should give you an idea of the type of people I was dealing with, and the fact that my moral compass and judgements were a little skewed at the time.

"Near the end of the first year of that craziness I went to Liamas II to talk to a Vecroy Melkar about purchasing his cybernetics company. I wanted his patents, but he wouldn't sell.

"He was very stubborn but devastatingly handsome and fatally charming. We became lovers and saw each other whenever we could. That became less and less as all my responsibilities took up more of my time. We finally ended it by mutual agreement and parted on good terms.

"Catherine is his daughter, our last romantic meeting was both enjoyable and productive. I was happy enough; I had wanted a child but wasn't to thrilled by the thought of a husband. Vecroy had a lot of good qualities and the bad ones were dealt with genetic manipulation Catherine underwent in becoming an Athena Upgrade.

"We met again three years later, I was buying a shipping line or something similar and he was trying to arrange cheap transport of his products with that line. He had attempted to branch out and hadn't done so well. I offered to buy his company and leave him in charge. That was the wrong thing to say. He didn't take well to pity. This time when we parted it was on very bad terms."

"Did you tell him about Catherine?" Kei asked.

"No, I didn't think he really needed to know and considering how much of a bastard he proved I didn't want him to know about her."

"Have you ever told Catherine any of this?" Yuri asked, leaning forward slightly.

"No, she's never asked. I suppose if she ever asks I'll tell her."

"And who would Susanne's father be?" Yuri asked her.

"That really isn't important to this conversation," Tamikia said.

Yuri looked disappointed with that answer.

"About six years ago Melkar launched a custody suit. I guess he found out about Catherine. It would not have been too hard for him to figure it out, based on the dates and such. He had several sleazy lawyers and some fabricated charges of me being a bad parent. I put one of my law firms on it and re-bribed the judges to ensure a fair trial. I won and that was the last I really heard of him."

"Until today," Kei said.

"Until today," Tamikia agreed.

"So why is he interested in Catherine?" Yuri crossed her legs and leaned back in the chair. "This isn't just him wanting to get his daughter because he wants to be a daddy."

"Six years ago I asked myself that very same question. I put some people on it to investigate. They found out that he had got himself involved with a group who call themselves 'The Imperial Foundation'."

"Sounds like a bunch of vacuum heads," Kei said.

"Aren't they the people who believe all the worlds colonized should be united under the rule of one power?"

"That's them," Tamikia told Yuri. "One of their members will take the exalted position of emperor while the others form the core of the imperial nobility." Tamikia thought the entire concept was stupid and let the disgust in her tone make that clear.

"I think I know who you mean now," Kei said. "Weren't they linked to the SBG a few months back?"

"Yes. After that being a member in The Imperial Foundation stopped being a trendy thing."

"They don't have much power," Yuri said.

"So it appears on paper, or publicly accessible databases but some of the available evidence has suggested that they might have larger holdings than earlier suspected."

"Any idea who might be providing them with funds?" Kei asked.

"Well none of the mega-corporations would, we don't like the idea of a unifying power. Such a government would be a major threat to the free enterprise system we like dealing with, and we'd hate to give up the worlds we own."

"Possibly one or two of the unaffiliated worlds, they could provide a lot of raw resources. One of the bigger sources would be small companies who want more power but just can't get it as things stand now."

"Like Melkar's," Yuri said.

"Exactly."

"So why would Catherine be important to him?"

"He wants my company and Catherine is a very good way to get it."

"So he trades Catherine for your position," Kei said.

"No, that wouldn't work. If anyone else were to take control of my holdings they'd loose a lot of vital contacts I've built up. That's where my real power lies. People put a lot of faith in me. He could use Catherine to force me to do what he wanted but that would be chancy. I would not take kindly to such an attempt." Tamikia's voice went hard and cold.

"Then what would he do?" Yuri asked her.

"Catherine will take control of my company, and more importantly my majority of the shares, when I retire or die. As my daughter she'll no doubt retain the faith that people have in me. If Vecroy had the time he could easily convince her to follow his dreams. She's young enough now that he cold probably do it."

"Especially if you were dead," Kei remarked.

"Why do you think he waited so long since his last attempt?" Yuri asked.

"As I said, I had people watching him after he tried to get custody of her. As time passed I cancelled the surveillance and reassigned the resources. I guess he went to work once he was able to work unobserved."

"Do you have any information on him?"

"Probably but I'll have to dig it all up." Tamikia closed her eyes and sighed loudly. She suddenly felt lousy. "Ladies right now I'm feeling very tired." She stood. "If you'll excuse me." She indicated the door.

Kei and Yuri stood; Tamikia escorted them out of her office and locked the door behind them.

"We'll talk about this tomorrow." Tamikia yawned then walked down the hall towards the family wing. She needed some sleep and some time to think about things.

"Now what?" Kei asked once Tamikia had disappeared from sight.

"We have an excellent lead, let's see what else we can find out."

"Why don't you check out the databases, see what 3WA and UG intelligence has on this guy?" Kei told her.

"Why do I always have to do the computer stuff?"

"Because you like it."

"Oh yeah."

They set of towards their room; both women were silent, not needing to speak. They heard loud music coming from ahead of them and followed it to its source in the entertainment room.

They stopped in front of the open door and looked in. Catherine way lying on the couch, her face buried in a pillow. From the way her shoulders were shaking Kei was pretty sure the girl was crying.

"What's the matter with her?" Yuri asked.

"She sprayed one of the kidnappers. I don't think it's sitting too well with her."

"Poor kid," Yuri said sadly.

"You're not much older than her."

"Do you want me to talk to her?" Yuri asked.

"No, I'll take this. Go and start working with your computers."

"Right." Yuri sounded relieved. "Good luck." She put a hand on Kei's shoulder and then was quickly walking towards their room.

Kei straightened her shoulders and tried to remember something that might be useful in such a situation. She came up blank. She would just wing it and see where that took her.

She walked into the room and took a seat on the couch, beside Catherine.

"How you doing?" It sounded lame to Kei but it was all she had.

"I killed one of them." Catherine sat up, wiped tears from her face. "I took out the pistol, I aimed at his head, like you said. I fired and... and... it... it was... I... I... I..."

Kei reached a hand around Catherine's shoulder and pulled her close. She could guess how bad it had been. Yuri had favoured the hold out pistol for a few weeks. It made some of the messiest wounds Kei had ever seen. They should have given the girl a laser. Twenty-twenty hindsight.

"I understand," Kei said after letting Catherine cry for a while longer.

"I c-c-couldn't fire at the others. I knew I should but I just st-st-stared at the body. I was a coward." Her tone was full of self-disgust.

"No you weren't." Kei told her. "You just did what anyone would have done in your situation. Yuri and I never believed you'd have to use the weapon. We gave it to you because it was something else we could do to ensure security. You confused them, made them waste time searching for things that weren't there. Catherine," Kei shifted the girl around so they were looking at each other, "had they left even a minute sooner we would have never caught them and saved you."

"But I froze. You would never freeze."

"That may be true, but that's because of a lot of experience, very little of it pleasant."

Kei thought back on her first days as a 3WA-training candidate. They had not been particularly enjoyable. The instructors had wanted their students to realize that they were not playing games. Their had been very graphic vids, even more graphic sims, trips to morgues, all so they could get a good idea what death looked like. 'Take a look at this ladies and gentlemen, you'll notice how the heat of the laser caused the water in the tissue to boil off and the small explosion it caused.' Throwing up all over a cadaver was not one of her favourite memories.

"Even now," Kei said, "there are times, after combat is over, after the small details have been taken care of, after I'm safely aboard the Angel, that I have to lie down and shake for a while."

"Don't you get used to it?"

"I hope not. I've met people who have become used to it and they are twisted individuals. I don't want to be like them and neither do you."

"Really?"

"Really." She smiled. "You need some sleep." Kei stood and walked over to the stereo to turn it off.

"What if I have nightmares?" Catherine asked.

"They'll pass, just be strong enough to face them." Kei had to wonder whether it was good advice she was giving but it was all she could offer. She started towards the door

"Kei, will this end soon?" Catherine followed after her.

"I hope so, I think so," Kei said.

"Promise?"

"Sorry." Kei smiled sadly and shook her head.

"Oh well." Catherine turned and continued on to her room.

Kei watched her go and wondered if she had ever been that young.