Alliance Hunter

The figures were in the common green and grey patched armour of the Confederacy. I considered the options as they edged cautiously into the room their weapons sweeping around. These soldiers were too early for a rescue party and too short to be Valkyrie. Instinctively I aimed my pistol at the closest. I futile gesture I know but I wasn’t going down without a fight. If they were Black Stripes they’d find how dangerous I actually was. Yet I didn’t fire something deep inside, my more logical side told me not to. I noted these particular soldiers had symbols on their pauldrons. One looked like a turtle or tortoise and the other some dagger with wings. [I think that’s the correct word for the armoured coverings on their shoulders.] I couldn’t remember seeing those symbols on the Black Stripes I’d encountered on Saros. There was a moment of confusion on the Confederacy side.

“Drop your weapon!” Several of the Confederacy soldiers shouted at the same time. Their weapons pointing directly at me.

“Negative!” I shouted back. “Identify yourselves!”

The T’Arni started chuckling. “I got you now you Terran scum. I will see you scream before I kill you.”

One of the male Confed’s clearly the leader of this squad shouted at the T’Arni. “Silence you are in deep shit!”

That shut her up. Since she was facing the wall I couldn’t see the expression on her face although I could see the stiffness in her posture.

The Confed squad leader turned to me. “You can lower the weapon ma’am we not here to hurt you.”

I lowered my weapon but still retained my hold on it.

“Who are you?” the Confed squad leader asked.

“Lieutenant Hunter of the Alliance ship Valorous Star,” I replied. I thought it sounded military enough to pass muster.

“Alliance?”

“TCA,” I told him.

“You are a long way from your ship LT?”

“Don’t I know it,” I said putting my pistol on the desk and stepping back from it my hands slightly raised. I gave the Confed a look noting the rest of his squad had fanned out weapons at ready. I knew they were being cautious but I didn’t like it. “You never answered my first question,” I told him.

“Lieutenant Mike O’Hagen forty-third GF.”

I waved at the T’Arni still facing the corner. “That over there is the Director of this hell hole and a shame to the T’Arni blood.”

“Hell hole?” O’Hagen said. “Oh I see.”

I could see him scrutinise my face carefully. I imaged he could see the mess there. Minutely examining the streaks of blood and the bruises there.

“Do you need a medtech?”

“I do have a Valkyrie with serious injuries in the back room. Be careful she is in a bad way and the woman treating her has suffered abuse at the hands of that bitch.”

I noticed the T’Arni was holding her tongue. I think she was beginning to see the mess she was in. These weren’t her guards these were regular soldiers.

“Right.” O’Hagen turned for a moment. “One is on the way.”

“And if possible I’d like the services of a telepath.”

“A tepe why.”

I saw him look at the T’Arni when he said that.

“She knows what has happened to my team,” I stated.

“Team?”

“We were sent here to investigate.” I didn’t want to give out too much information until I heard back from Runa. “We got shot down over the rainforest and crashed. We were trekking out of the area when we were ambushed. I fell down a ravine and woke up here. Only to find myself being sexually molested by a pervert.” I had to admit that not something I wanted to do.

I saw the Confeds glance at each other but because of the helmets I couldn’t see the expressions on their faces.

“That a serious accusation,” O’Hagen said.

“It’s the truth.”

“And the perpetuator?”

“Dead,” I said bluntly. “I wasn’t the only one there is a girl her name is a Alena not more than a teenager. A so called guard had her chained to a wall while he raped her.”

I caught several muttered curses from the Confeds.

“I suppose he’s dead?” I heard the anger in O’Hagen’s voice. The anger not aimed in my direction.

“No just very sorry for what he did when I caught him.” It felt good that that the pervert, even with my beating him up was about to get another one.

That got me several approving nods. I noted that the Director had remained silent she was in enough trouble as it was.

“Where did this happen?”

“Follow the corridor down there is a guard station just before you get to two metal columns.”

Two women in combat armour entered. One tall, one short the shorter woman had a blood drop surrounded by a white circle on her shoulder. She had a large pack on her back. The medtech I assumed her companion was much taller a Valkyrie if my guess was correct. The medtech took one look at my face and started to remove her pack.

“You the patient?” she asked sounding all business like.

“Negative,” I replied waving her away. “I’ll be fine. Your patient is in the other room.” I pointed to the back room. “Be careful she’s Valkyrie.” I saw the Valkyrie stiffen. “She’s in there with a friend. A prisoner she’s been abused and traumatised.”

“I will.”

I was too busy watching the two enter to see O’Hagen stand opposite me only the width of the desk between us. He had his hand on his helmet earpiece and he was nodding. Obvious he was receiving instructions from his higher ups.

He turned and signalled to two of his squad. “You two escort the prisoner out.”

For a moment I thought he was referring to me but he was pointing to the T’Arni. The two soldiers grabbed the chair and wheeled the T’Arni out.

“Hey!” I objected. “Where are you going with her?”

“She has a lot of questions to answer,” O’Hagen said.

“What about my team?”

“If she knows anything we’ll let you know.” He flicked an unfamiliar signal to his squad and they filed out.

I was alone there wasn’t much I could do. As I was considering my next move Monica exited the back room.

“Yngvara?” I asked concerned.

“Getting the help she needs I was told to leave.”

“Leave?”

“The Valkyrie,” Monica said with a backward look to the room.

“Valkyrie?” I repeated.

Monica glanced at me a tight frown on her face. “I see you still have that habit?”

“Ok sorry. I’ll try to keep it to the minimum.”

“Don’t be I’m just glad you are here and I can hear your voice. Thanks to you we are free. You saved me again. You seem to be making a habit of that as well. For that one thing I’m not objecting.” She paused. “What I was saying it was a Valkyrie she took off her helmet.” I saw her look at my bangle. “I know a Valkyrie when I see one. She was the one that insisted I leave. I suppose she was right I’d be more of a hindrance than a help.”

“You want me to have a word with her?” I don’t think Monica believed I was part Valkyrie.

Monica shook her head. “No, it’s alright I just need to get out of here.”

I agreed with that. There was nothing I could do for Yngvara. The desire to hit something hard filled me. I repressed the urge savagely. “I need to find out where they’ve taken the T’Arni?” I refused to use the woman’s title. “I want answers.”

Monica regarded the expression on my face carefully. “Ok follow me.”

She led me back out into the corridor and back the way we came. We passed the now empty guardroom. I could see the bloodstains where I assaulted the guard. I couldn’t see any others. I wasn’t sure if it was a good or bad sign. We reached the T-junction and halted.

“Which way?” I asked Monica.

She merely pointed to the corridor we had not been down yet. It had a broad white stripe. The corridor seemed endless and I wondered where Monica was taking me.

“Is this the only way?” I asked her.

She stopped and turned. “On the red route there is one.”

“So why did we not take that?” I hadn’t wanted to be blunt with Monica but I had to find my team and put my mind to rest.

“I need to check on Alicia,” was all she said.

I left it at that it was a reasonable idea.

Another walk brought us to a four-way intersection. The broad white line carried on in the direction we were travelling in. Intersecting it was a blue line and a black one.

“Where does that go?” I asked her pointing to the black line.

Monica visibly shook in fear. “I don’t know. All I know anyone that goes that way never returns.”

I looked down that route seeing a number of armoured Confed guarding something. I wasn’t about to go and ask them. “The blue?”

“Medical facilities and such like. Alicia will not be there.”

I wasn’t going to ask her how she knew. Later perhaps, we still had to find Alicia. “How far now?”

“Not far,” Monica said picking up the pace. “The dormitories.”

I hurried after Monica seeing signs of battle all around me. There were bloodstains on the floor and pockmarks on the wall where rounds had hit. Monica’s face grew grim at the sight of the blood. I hadn’t seen any bodies yet and took that for a good sign. I could only think she was thinking the worst. We passed several open doorways inside I could see bunk beds each covered with a threadbare brown blanket. The Black Stripes seemed to treat their prisoners like dirt. I had seen images of the Nazi concentration camps on Earth but this brought those images to life in a sickening way. I stuffed my growing anger into a box and followed Monica hoping beyond hope that Alicia was alive and well.

Monica hurried into one of the open doored rooms. This one was more of a mess several of the beds had been over turned. On the floor by a scattered mattress were a discarded shock collar and a patch of blood. Monica bypassed this and headed to the back of the room to a bunk bed that hadn’t been overturned. She knelt by the bed and pulled open the mattress to reveal a slit. She spent sometime rumaging in the slit before standing up and looking relieved.

“They’re gone?”

I’d have thought she would have been alarmed that something was missing but she sounded happy.

“What is?”

“Alicia’s momentoes. We weren’t permitted to have anything personal. She squirreled away a few things. She would rather die than leave them behind.”

I suppose if that was all she had then she’d want to keep it close. Going on my own experience I didn’t really own anything. Then I considered my thought and realised I did. Although mine were safe on Xenai’s ship. I felt a brief surge of anger thinking about what all these women had been put through. I repressed it again.

“We find Alicia next?” I asked Monica. It wasn’t my first priority but for Monica’s sake I had to help her.

“Yes she’ll be outside, if anywhere.”

We exited the room and walked further. The corridor widened into wide hall. We passed more discarded shock collars and bloodstains. We passed a number of Confed soldiers who ignored us. Ahead I could see a set of blast doors almost as thick as I was tall. Sounds from outside were filtering through the doors. Angry voices could be heard all of then women’s. They were shouting, calling for death. I looked at Monica seeing the fixed expression on her face.

Momentarily blinded by the sunlight we exited the bunker. I’m sure that was what it was. The entrance was built into a mountain. The stark concrete streaked green with mildew. In front of us was an open area. There was no way it could be hidden from prying eyes without some sort of holographic camouflage. I saw the tall inactive lattices of the holo projectors. The entrance was flanked by a number of wooden shacks in rows. At the edge of the cleared area were it met the forest were a number of shock barriers also inactive. The collars were probably linked to these, anyone getting too close were more than likely shocked. Not that the forest held any safety.

Scattered amongst the shacks were the boxy shapes of Confed dropships. The stench of smoke and others things assaulted my nostrils. In the clear area between the two sets of shacks was a clear area with what seemed like soccer goal posts at the centre. Surrounding the posts were hundreds in my estimate of orange clad women all shouting and crying. I saw a number of armoured Confed soldiers trying to force them back from something or someones prone on the floor. That was my guess as all could see was a sea of orange with an island of green and grey. The Confed’s had their weapons strapped to their chests any were trying hard not to be the aggressors. I had seen the same on Earth when we were sent to break up a riot. I had not drawn my pistol on the rioters but I had heard I hadn’t been the case elsewhere. Another reason I’d left when I did. Monica headed straight towards the crowd. I heard the Confed’s shouting for the women to get back.

I took a deep breath and bawled. “Attention!” at the top of my voice.

The sound echoed over the shouting. As one the crowd turned in my direction their shouts petering out.

“Monica!” a few called out seeming relieved to see her.

I went into security mode letting my voice carry. “Stand down!” I ordered.

A number of the women looked in our direction confused expressions on their faces. I saw sparks of recognition as they saw Monica clearly she was a leader of some sort. One of the women stepped out of the crowd. She looked vaguely familiar to me but I couldn’t place were I’d seen her. She waddled across to us, her gait made ungainly by the fact she was heavily pregnant. Her dusty coloured hair cropped short. While the others stood there and watched the woman embraced Monica. At least they had stopped haranguing the Confeds although I did see a number look back anger still on their faces. The woman gave me the eye and turned her attention back to Monica.

“Who’s this?” she asked Monica.

“Alicia, this is Gwen.”

Alicia stared at me wide eyed. “My God Gwen I didn’t recognise you?”

“That’s ok,” I replied. I hadn’t recognised Alicia either we had both changed and not for the good. “I’ve changed.” When I last saw Alicia I was a lot chubbier. Little wonder she didn’t recognise me. The Valkyrie and Keepers had altered me in more ways than I could have imagined.

The mob [that’s what I called the group of former prisoners] turned their attention back to the Confeds. I saw what the Confeds were holding the women back from. In the centre of the Confeds were a number of former guards all in bad condition and shackled. In my minds eye I could perceive a blood bath. It would take someone with a itchy trigger finger to start it off I don’t think the Confeds wanted that nor did I.

“Monica ask your friends to stand down they’re doing more harm than good. Those idiots aren’t going anywhere.”

I received several angry stares.

“We want justice for what they did to us!” they shouted at me.

I put on my best security voice the one we had been trained to use in situations like this. “Kill them and they will escape justice.”

A few of the more rational women considered my words. But the angry heart persevered.

“Rapists!” they shouted. “Murderers!”

“Enough!” I barked. “Where they are headed they’ll suffer worse than you have ever suffered!” I stepped forward putting my heart into my words. “Think of it this way what they did to you they’ll suffer ten fold!”

“Yeah and who will do that for us?” a lone voice from the mob called out.

I held up my bangle. I doubted most would not understand what it meant but I was a hoping a few would tell the others. “The Valkyrie,” I said simply.

A few nodded less than I hoped for but it might be enough.

“That is fitting,” Monica said coming to my aid. “When Gwen says the Valkyrie will deal with these things then believe her as much as you believe me.”

I think that got more attention.

I spoke again. “Now please disperse and find your things you are going home.”

Slowly the mod began to disperse.

The Confed squad leader a short female I assumed was a T’Arni walked across to us. She had her hand on the butt of her AR 32 strapped to her chest. “Thanks for that,” she said showing her nervousness. “I didn’t want to shoot anyone. I had to keep our prisoners safe no matter what they have done. I can’t let them die at the hands of an angry mob.”

That part I understood unfortunately the Confed was correct.

“They’d be justified. After the abuse we have suffered at their hands!” Alicia vented her displeasure.

“We do understand,” the Confed said. She looked at me somehow seeking my acknowledgement. “We can move them to the brig aboard the transport.”

“Of course,” I said to her.

“Don’t bother healing them they don’t deserve it,” Alicia said pointing her finger at the Confed.

The Confed shook her head. “We have to it’s in our charter!”

I an outsider could see both sides of the argument. “That’s why you will send them to Alfheimir.”

“The Enari home world they’ll never make it out alive?” I heard the chagrin in her voice.

I didn’t want to be hard on the poor Confed just doing her job. But I had to be seen to be doing what I’d told the women they deserved that much. “I’m going to have to insist. Or do you want a riot on your hands?” I could see while the women had dispersed there was still enough hanging around to cause problems for the Confeds. I guess they were waiting for the chance to strike and extract their revenge.

The Confed seemed to be weighing up the situation but I couldn’t be certain I couldn’t see her face. “I’ll have to run it though my CO,” she said finally.

“Where is your CO?” I asked her. “I have business to discuss about one of the prisoners.”

The Confed turned and pointed to a shack at farthest end of the compound with a couple of guards. I suppose you could call the shacks outside the bunker that.

“In there. I’ll let him know you are coming.”