Crusade For Vengeance (Dark Vengeance Book 2) (30 page)

In the distance, on an open piece of grassland, sat a Helo.

“That’s a Dragonfly.”  Pavel identified it.  Six soldiers stood around a grav-sled being led up the ramp inside.  A medical casket sat strapped to the sled.

“Look at how those soldiers are standing,” Shannon said.

“They’re wary of being attacked,” Pavel said.

“Right, but not from outside them, from that sled,” Shannon said.

“That’s what I saw as well,” Hanna told them.  “And they would not be afraid of a corpse.  No matter how much she hurt them.”

“She’s alive,” Pavel said in wonder.

“At least she was twenty four days ago,” Shannon said seriously.  “Is she still alive and if so, where is she?”

“Can you find out?” Hanna asked with hope.  “I don’t even know where to start looking now.”

Shannon shook her head thoughtfully.  “She won’t be on any Legion base.  There’s too much chance of her being recognised.  I know every covert installation in the system and none of them would be able to hide her from the Devils.  My guess is she’s out of the system.  Pavel?”

He nodded in confirmation.  “The Rock.”

“It’s the only place that makes sense.”

“The Rock’s a prison.  That wouldn’t hold her.”  Hanna disagreed, it didn’t make any sense to her.  She knew people who had broken out of prison.  Judge managed it and if he could, Valerie would have no problem.

“It’s not like the prisons you know,” Shannon disagreed.  “This isn’t some hole they throw people into and if you survive, you get to walk out again.  They reserve the Rock for those they actually care about.  People who may be of use to them at some point further down the line.  It has cells and guards making sure you stay alive.”

“Have you been there, Major?” Pavel asked.

“No, I was briefed on it last year.  It’s where they stuffed all the Rebels they caught on Olympus after Furioso.”

“Where is it?” Hanna asked.

“I don’t know precisely, but I do know it’s in the Blaze system somewhere.”

“Blaze?  Wow, they’re sending her back to my turf, but I’ve never heard of the Rock being there.  If it is, I know someone who’ll know where or will certainly be able to find out.”

“I don’t doubt your connections, Hanna.  Not after what you’ve shown us of your capabilities over the last couple of weeks, but this is a prison they have kept secret for centuries.  It won’t be listed on any official documentation anywhere.  We’d need to get the highest clearances possible get that information.”

“Or we get miss super Hacker here up to the top floors of Navy tower.”  Pavel said thoughtfully.  “Admiral Cestari and his staff must know the location and, after today, I’m willing to bet their encryption can’t stand up to her.”

“You want to smuggle her into the most secure building in the Pantheon?”

“Well, it’s what we do.”

“I may have another idea,” Hanna said.

“Please don’t tell me you can Hack it from here?”  Shannon said shaking her head.

“No, I’ve looked.  All their good stuff is hard-walled and I would have to be physically there, as Pavel suggested, but what about a super-secret R&D ship?  Would it have similar clearances implanted?  Could we use it as a baseline to Hack the Rock’s location, once in the Blaze system?”

“Theoretically, yes.  Why?” Shannon asked suspiciously.

“Well, as it happens, her armour wasn’t the only thing Valerie stole on her way out...”

“Two nine seven, two nine eight, two nine nine.”  The darkness in the cell was absolute.  There was not a single source of light.  She pushed herself up and down with her back straight, the only contact with the ground her hands and toes.  “Three hundred.”  Her words echoed off the smooth metal walls.  The last push up finished, she stood, mindful of pulling her legs out from under the bed without catching it.  By brushing her leg against the bed and her hand against the wall, she orientated herself and jumped up effortlessly.

Precisely two metres from the floor her hands clasped the bar and she begun again.  “One, two, three, four, five...”  The back of her neck rose up between her shoulders to graze the bar before lowering all the way down again.  With her knees bent, her feet never touched the floor.

Sweat dripped down her naked body.  Prisoners were only allowed four items in their cells.  One sheet and one pillow for the bed, a bright yellow jumpsuit and a datapad containing only books and vids.  The datapad’s interface was through a touch screen menus.  Even the best Hacker could do nothing with it.

The hour before lights on was the ideal time to exercise.  There was no way to tell time in the dark, the datapad didn’t include a chrono and was programmed not to operate during lights-out, but her internal clock had always been precise.  She rose an hour before lights on and worked as hard as she could in the small cell.  Two metres wide, two metres long and three metres high.  It contained a bed running the length of one side, a hole in the floor toilet, a VI screen for prison announcements and three metal bars, two metres from the floor.

“Five one, five two, five three,” Valerie Carter continued her count.  She had been in the Rock for fifteen days, wherever it was.  After speaking to Cestari, her next memory was awaking in her cell.  She didn’t know how long she was unconscious for, and all the other prisoners told the same story.

Captured by police, Legion or hired merc’s, drugged and then waking in one of the identical cells.  There was no common reference point to gauge how long it took for people to arrive.  Every new arrival was brought in during the night hours, when prisoners were locked in their cells.  Once a prisoner was here for more than a month or so, they lost track of the days.

“Nine seven, nine eight, nine nine, one hundred.”  She dropped to the floor and fumbled slightly for her jumpsuit.  The lights blazed on as she was pulling it over her sweaty body.  The lights didn’t rise from dim to full illumination, they went immediately to full strength.  Valerie thanked her sense of time.  Her eyes were tightly shut at the right moment.  For the first few days, while she got used to the routine, her enhanced sight was blinded by the sudden lights.  Every day it took her over a minute to be able to see again.

The cell door slid open and the automated voice spoke clearly through the cell.  “Proceed immediately to the shower area.”  Valerie took a moment to stretch out her tired muscles, her body responded smoothly.  The injuries she sustained on Ison Island were healing well.  With the jumpsuit on properly, she collected her bedding from where she piled it at the foot of her bed, and stepped out of her cell, into the corridor.  Other women were also emerging, bedding in hand.  There weren’t any male prisoners.  She guessed they were kept in another area of the Rock.  Approximately ten percent of the human population preferred their own sex over the other.  Separation generally reduced the problem mixed prisons produced.

They all made their way out into the main communal area, a vast room with nine corridors coming off it, three to a wall, each identical to Valerie’s.  The fourth wall of the vast square room, called the Playpen by the inmates, held the shower block, toilet facilities, food dispenser and equipment cupboard.  Glancing up, Valerie took in the suspended walkways ten metres overhead.  On them strolled the armed and armoured guards.

They weren’t the only security precautions.  Every part of the facility was monitored.  It didn’t matter where you were, they could see you.  At the end of her first day, they showed her a detailed vid of all her movements to prove they could see everything.  Also to ensure compliance, each prisoner wore a nerve stimulator band around her left wrist.  When activated, it caused the pain nerves in the arm to think it was on fire, the effectiveness proven by the simple expediency of activating it.

Valerie was left writhing on the floor in pain.  It was not anywhere near bad as the neural disrupter used on her by the man Cestari referred to as ‘Dorme’.  Pain she could deal with, but she hadn’t tried to resist and let her body react naturally.  The time might come when she would need to overcome the nerve stimulator.  It would be better if they didn’t know she could.

Turning right out of the corridor, Valerie headed to the showers.  A laundry chute sat inside and Valerie dropped her bedding into it.  The hole sucking it all away was too small for anyone to escape through.  While everyone was cleaning themselves, the cells would be swept clean.  A good thing for those who needed to use the toilet in the pitch black, it was all too easy to leave a mess you did not have the facilities to clean up.

Valerie preferred to do her business, if she could help it, before her shower.  After her morning ablutions, she dumped her jumpsuit after the bedding and went to the showers.  Overhead the guards were still there, many of them male.  For some reason, she managed to attract a few fans among the guards.  She could feel them moving into position above her as she stepped under the ice cold water.

The other women all darted in and out as quickly as they could manage.  Valerie didn’t let it bother her.  The fire of rage in her heart was all she needed to keep her warm.  The designers of the Rock intentionally removed all comfort from the cells, but here in the communal areas there were the basics at least.  Towels were plentiful and Valerie dried herself and donned a clean jumpsuit from the pile.

A tray of food was available from the dispenser and Valerie sat at an empty table to eat.  No one approached her.  On her first day, a woman who ran a gang of six others decided Valerie would be her new play toy.  What entertainment there was available, didn’t keep people’s interest for long and some liked to play it rough.  Valerie taught her there were some who played rougher.

She woke in the cell when the lights came on, with only the Admiral’s word she was in the Rock.  Weak from an unknown amount of time unconscious, and half blinded by the lights, she made her way out of the cell and followed everyone else out to the Playpen.  She went straight for the food, her stomach felt like she hadn’t eaten in weeks.  Halfway through her meal, a large woman stepped up behind Valerie, half a dozen others surrounding the table.  The woman didn’t go for originality in starting a fight.

“You’re in my seat.”

Valerie sighed.  There was always one who wanted to prove they were the alpha in the group.  The woman was right behind Valerie.  It would take no effort at all to ram her elbow into the woman’s gut.  Her food tray and the cutlery were useless as weapons.  They were designed to disintegrate should it be exposed to any sort of force.  It wouldn’t be a problem.  She could be off the bench, well before any of those around moved.  They placed themselves to be visibly threatening, but practically, they were no use at all.

A fight would not be the best way to start her first day before she knew the rules.

Valerie shook her head.  “I’m sorry, I’ll move somewhere else,” she said standing.

It was exactly what the woman wanted to hear, she punched Valerie in the back of the head.  The woman was taller than Valerie and twice as wide, probably half fat and half muscle.  Normally a blow like that would have sent someone Valerie’s size sprawling to the floor.  She expected the blow and rolled her head with it, while keeping her feet in a stance allowing her to absorb the impact.

The rage fought to escape its cage.  Only the thought of being trapped in this place forever curbed it.  Valerie spun and threw an old fashioned roundhouse punch at the woman.  Too stunned Valerie was still standing, she took the full force of it to the jaw and went crashing to the ground.  A scream of rage from Valerie’s right signalled the next attacker.  She got an elbow to the face for her trouble and joined her boss on the floor.

A pair of arms began to wrap themselves around her, stopping when Valerie’s elbow found the soft tissue under the ribs.  They were brawlers, not from the Legion or even the gangs.  They had no idea how to fight and were no match for Valerie.  With an iron will she contained the rage, curbing her speed, strength and superior fighting skills.  She kept her moves to those taught in Legion basic training.  She didn’t need any others.

The big leader was back onto her feet.  She came charging in as Valerie dropped the last of her buddies.  The woman’s first swinging punch went wide, the second Valerie blocked and the third she caught in her left hand.  With a twist, she was off balance and her right fist slammed into the woman’s stomach, doubling her over.  Valerie’s fist came back a second time, ready to do some real damage, and a magnified voice shouted.

“STOP!  Cease fighting and step away immediately.”  Valerie did as the guards ordered and let the woman fall whimpering to the floor.

Afterwards the guards explained to Valerie, as she hadn’t broken any bones, it was her first offence and as she obeyed instantly, there would be no punishment.  The gangs punishment was three days locked in their cells, no food and kept in complete darkness.

She saw them when they emerged, shaking and blinking in the light.  The smell of the seven women was easily evident to most of the other prisoners in the playpen.  Using a toilet that was only a hole in the floor, in complete darkness was not easy and it was obvious none of them mastered it.  It wasn’t the only reason they hated her.  After recovering from solitary they went after someone else, until Valerie made it clear she would not tolerate that.

Valerie looked up from her breakfast and saw the hate-filled eyes of the gang, staring at her from across the room.  Ignoring them, she looked around the playpen and considered her next move.  The room was half made up of tables and benches with the rest an open space.  Women sat or strolled around chatting in groups.  If any of them caught her looking in their direction, they would immediately divert their eyes.  It seemed there was more going on than her establishing herself as the alpha of this wing of the Rock.  She’d waited long enough, it was time get some answers and she thought she knew who she needed to talk to.

A group of three women sat at a table three down from Valerie’s.  Two of them set up a board game Valerie didn’t recognise.  Two lines of different shapes pieces sat in front of each player on a black and white grid.  One side’s pieces were black and the others white.  It was the start of the day so they hadn’t begun yet.  The three were chatting easily, one of them, a short woman in her twenties of Hispanic descent, was in the process of collecting their trays.  Valerie strolled over.

“Here.”  Valerie said and held hers out to the girl collecting.  She immediately glanced at the woman Valerie came over to see.  Floriana Quintero, often called Quin by her associates, looked at Valerie and nodded carefully.  The girl took the tray and hustled off in the direction of the food dispenser, where they needed to be returned after every meal.

“Would you mind if we have a talk?” Valerie asked Quin.

She was regarded by the woman’s brown eyes before she nodded to her friend across the table.

“Give us a few minutes will you, Luisa?” Quin said.

“Yeah, no problem.”  Luisa slid out of her seat and Valerie took her place.

“What do you want?”  Quin asked bluntly.

Valerie studied the woman opposite her coldly.  In her early thirties, her ancestors would have come originally from Africa, though after two millennia in space, it was only a reference point, nothing more.  There was intelligence behind those eyes, one she was cautious about revealing, but not trying to hide.

“You’re pretty well connected in here and I have a question.”

“What’s that?”

“Why is everyone here avoiding me?”

“Hah.  Feeling lonely?”  Quin jibed.

“Not especially,” Valerie answered.  “I’ve spent much longer than this without company by choice.  It just seems... out of character.”

“You think we owe you something after you showed everyone you’re the toughest woman here?”

“Not really, but I did expect people to seek my protection.  It’s what normally happens in these places, isn’t it?”

“Not from the Privileged.”  There was real spite in Quin’s tone. 

Valerie nodded.  “The guards told you, didn’t they?”  Without the clothes or any other items the Manuals could never afford, it was impossible to tell someone treated with Life X, from someone who was ageing naturally.  Even Valerie’s accent wasn’t distinguishable as a member of the Privileged, she learned to hide it a long time ago.

“Yes,” Quin answered, “and no-one here is going to cosy up to one of you.”

“I see, that explains the welcome.  I thought it was a bit quick.”

“Everyone here is on the Rock because they’ve done something to annoy one of you.  You’re lucky more didn’t join in,” she paused for a moment and the next words came out grudgingly.  “You’re tougher than I expected.”

“More than you could possibly know,” Valerie told her grimly, “For the record, I’ve killed more of the Privileged than anyone else here.  Why do you think I’m on the Rock?”  She let the predator’s smile out of its cage for a moment and Quin sat back.  The woman’s tightening jaw showed all too clearly she hadn’t liked her reaction.