Extensis Vitae (16 page)

He was examining one of the paintings on the wall, when someone came up next to him. June stood there wearing her security vest, carrying her helmet in hand.

“Hi,” she said shyly. The resemblance to Allie, Nash’s sister, was stronger than ever now that he had taken note of it.

“How are you doing, June? Is it good to be back on the job?” he asked.

“Yes…I didn’t know what else there was for me to do, so I figured I might as well…” She trailed off with a haunted look in her eyes.

Reznik felt the awakening of anger deep down again. “Well, I think it’s great if you are feeling up to it already. I admire your strength.”

“Thanks. I wish I could have done what you did out there.
We
, I mean. Our security force is pretty woeful, honestly. We just don’t have the training to deal with situations like that.”

“Well, my society was a lot different than the one you’ve been living in. There was always a need for professional soldiers. Whether or not everything here will go back to normal now, I couldn’t say. But I’d be happy to show you a few things if you like,” he offered.

Her eyes grew wide. “Sure, that would be great!” She was about to say more, but the door to Swanson’s office opened and his secretary came out.

“Please come inside, folks,” the woman said, leading them into a conference room adjoining the lobby. The council members took their seats and the invitees sat at the end of the table. Swanson entered a moment later and sat at the head of the table.

“Thank you for joining us,” Swanson began. “The last couple days have been trying for all of us. We received some great news, of course, with the return of Dr. Kane, Ms. Wagner, and the ladies from Colony 13. On the other hand, evil and violence have shattered our peaceful way of life here. Now we are at a critical juncture as to how to proceed. Much remains to be decided, but first, I think we should start at the beginning. Ladies, if you would be so kind as to describe the events leading up to all this.”

Carmen and Sara exchanged glances, and then Carmen began to recount the story she had told Reznik after their rescue. Sara mostly remained silent, except to provide an occasional detail. Carmen told them how the outlaws had breached one of the walls of the facility with a huge mining drill machine, and how all of the colonists had been terrified and panicking. She described how the outlaws had come through the breach, gunning down the security team and anyone that stood in their way before everyone had fled or was subdued. After that, they were all corralled in the common rooms. When it was evident that the administrator wasn’t present, Haze and a couple of his men went to break into the administrator’s office. They beat and tortured the administrator, murdering his family before his eyes, before finally killing him. Then all of the colonists had been locked in the storage rooms while Haze’s gang looted the facility. After a day or two, the outlaws picked out four women for their cruel entertainment, and sent the rest with Haze’s second-in-command, a man named Mason, who took them away to the skin traders. Carmen, Sara, and two other women were beaten and raped regularly. The other two women had tried to escape, but were caught and killed.

The council erupted with outrage and horror throughout Carmen’s story, especially regarding the treatment of the women. Reznik again thought of Allie when he looked at June with her haunted eyes, and he had to clamp down on his anger once more.

“Thank you, ladies,” Swanson said somberly. “Truly a horrific series of crimes perpetrated against the innocent people of Colony 13. Ms. Wagner, Dr. Kane—if you two will fill everyone in on the details of your mission?”

June began the story, but choked up when she tried to describe the ambush and murder of her fellow guards. Dr. Kane took over and described how the two of them had woken up in chains inside the common area with the other two women and how they were threatened and beaten. When he saw the horror on June’s face from reliving the event, he spared them a lot of the details. He also briefly mentioned that the outlaws had neglected to refuel the reactor and the colony had run down to emergency power. All the while, the outlaws had been devouring the colony’s stores of food and drink.

Next, it was Reznik’s turn. Glossing over the graphic details, he recounted the ambush on Haze and his men in the corridor outside the vault door, and how he had searched the facility until he had come upon the captives in the common area. He described the fight and taking Rin prisoner and their return to Colony 12.

“My concern, though, is that the rest of the band could return at any time,” Reznik cautioned. “It will be necessary to take care of them, or at least disable the drilling machine and reseal the breach in the bunker wall. I would advise that we deal with them on our terms by being prepared to confront them upon their return, as opposed to having to go in and root them out again.”

The council murmured in agreement. They looked around questioningly between Swanson and Reznik, unsure of how to handle the situation.

“That is a valid point. We will have to plan and decide this later,” Swanson finally said. “Thank you all for your valuable information. We now need to plot a course of action and press on. We have security as well as logistics concerns to deal with here. Not to mention it still needs to be decided what to do with the prisoner.”

Another council member spoke up. “One of the critical concerns would be the stability of Colony 13’s reactor. If the cooling system malfunctions, there are safety mechanisms to prevent a core meltdown, but it is imperative that we get a team out there to inspect and determine the condition of the reactor and whether it is still functioning properly. If these savages somehow damaged the reactor itself, then we very well might have a serious radiation threat on our hands.”

“Another concern is the preservation of the food supply,” another man added. “Without power, the irrigation systems won’t function, nor will the grow lamps, so all the crops could die. The same with the refrigeration units—if backup power fails, those too will fail.”

The discussion continued on for some minutes before Swanson raised his hand. He must have seen the invitees’ eyes glazing over, as he dismissed them. “Thank you again for your testimony—all of you. You are free to go.”

Chapter 14

A
chime sounded in Reznik’s ear. He awakened and was alert almost instantly. He knew right away that something was wrong. Myrna stirred in the bed next to him, the cover sliding down off her bare shoulder as Reznik sat up.

A voice spoke in his ear through his Datalink. “Mr. Reznik, it’s June. I’m sorry to bother you, but there’s trouble. I tried ringing your room, but you didn’t answer or weren’t there.” She sounded distressed.

“What is it, June?” he asked quietly, already getting up and dressing.

“It’s Rin—they’re hurting her. Some of the other officers. I tried to stop them, but they wouldn’t listen…”

“Where are you?”

“I’m heading back to the Security Office. I don’t know what to do—I don’t have any reason to like that woman, but what they are doing just isn’t right.”

“I’m on my way. Wait for me outside and don’t get involved. I’ll take care of it.” He ended the connection and pulled on his shoes.

“Michael, what’s going on?” Myrna was awake now, concern on her face.

“There’s some trouble with the prisoner. It sounds like some of the guards have got a little backwoods justice going on. I need to put a stop to it.”

“Why? She’s one of those outlaws. She’s not worth it. Do you think it’s a good idea to involve yourself in this? I doubt you want to get on the administrator’s bad side by messing around with his guards again.”

“I gave her my word that this type of thing wouldn’t happen. How is what they are doing any different from what those outlaws did? Beating an imprisoned woman is something I would expect from the outlaws, not the colonists.” He headed for the door. “You probably shouldn’t follow me. It could get dangerous.”

“Be careful,” was all she said.

***

Rin gritted her teeth as the electricity coursed through her body. She didn’t want to give these assholes the satisfaction of seeing her in pain, but even with her high tolerance, she was nearing her limit. The guard pulled the baton back from the metal bar of the cell. He hadn’t even touched her directly, but cuffed as she was, she couldn’t avoid the electrical charge.

There were five of them all together—three of them dressed as security officers, the other two apparently civilians. They were careful to maintain their distance, though, she noted. The biggest and cruelest one was in charge of the group.

“You fuckin’ bitch!” he spat at her. “Those were our friends that you bastards ambushed and gutted like stray dogs!” Being as disoriented and in as much pain as she was, she couldn’t avoid the strike in time. He smacked her right on the ear with the electrified baton. Her knees buckled involuntarily from the pain. She slumped, but was unable to fall down, since the guards had manacled her wrists to the bars of the cell. She managed to furtively slide her leg through the bars as much as possible as she hung by her wrists.

The big guard got right in her face and growled, “And you and your scumbag friends raped our women, too! We should gang-rape you and see how you like it, bitch.”

Rin stared him in the eye, not backing down. “I had nothing to do with any killings or rapes of your people. I guess you are too fucking stupid to notice that I don’t have the right equipment to do any raping. I doubt you do, either, big man that you are, torturing a chained up woman. You aren’t even man enough to step inside this cell.”

The big guard’s face flushed and his eyes blazed with anger. He opened his mouth to say something, but Rin took advantage of his proximity and cut him off with a swift kick to the groin. She couldn’t quite reach far enough to deal a crippling blow to his testicles, but she managed to connect hard enough to take the wind out of his sails.

“Uhhhhhhh,” he groaned, bending over in pain. “Bitch, you’re gonna regret that!”

One of the civilians stepped forward. His face was an ugly red, and a vein pulsed in his temple. Rin pulled her leg back through the bars before he could kick her. He looked like the stereotypical angry drunk. “I’ll show you who’s man enough, whore!” He took a swing at her. She leaned back and turned her head, but he still managed to land a blow on her cheek. “Open the door, Cole,” he demanded. “Let’s teach this mouthy bitch a lesson.”

The one in charge balked as he gingerly straightened back up. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea—” he began.

“That’s a very
bad
idea,” a voice said from behind them. Rin thought it was almost comical to see the five of them all whirl around in shock. A couple of them nearly lost their balance in the process due to their intoxication.

Reznik stood in the doorway, his face hard with anger. His sleeves were rolled up and the veins in his forearms bulged from his clenched fists. She was a little relieved at his appearance. It wasn’t going to go well for this lot, she knew.

***

“This is none of your business, Reznik,” Cole threatened. He glanced at his friends to make sure they were standing with him, but Reznik could see the uncertainty in his eyes. He had seen enough of the situation to know that he had gotten there just in time. Rin was obviously in pain, shackled and hanging limply by her wrists from the bars, the men threatening her with the electric riot batons and their fists. She grasped the bars and pulled herself to a standing position again.

“I’m making it my business. This woman is my prisoner and wasn’t to be harmed, or did you forget the administrator’s orders?” He made eye contact with each of them. Two of them looked a little chagrined, but he knew Cole and a couple of the others were going to be a problem. “Obviously, she has been harmed, so now we have a problem.”

“Why don’t you back the fuck off before we beat your ass, too?” the red-faced civilian snarled.

Reznik could smell the alcohol on Red Face’s breath even from where he stood. From what June had told him, all of them had been drinking. She had wanted to help him, but he had told her to wait at the security desk and watch the monitors. He warned her that Cole and his buddies would probably retaliate against her later if they knew she had helped him.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Reznik warned them. “If we do it the hard way, you’ll probably end up paying a visit to the med bay.” A couple of the men exchanged nervous glances, but Cole and the other two just scowled at him belligerently.
Fueled by an excess of liquid courage, I see,
Reznik thought.

Red Face puffed up his chest and took a step forward, putting his arms out to shove Reznik in the chest. Reznik swatted his arms wide and stepped close, head-butting the man. He could hear the man’s nose crunch, and he screamed as blood spurted out. He stumbled backward into his buddies.