The Honour of the Knights (First Edition) (49 page)

Natalia
shivered in her stasis capsule, so intense were her dreams. But
they did not plague her forever and soon the darkness departed,
allowing the woman to return to a peaceful, undisturbed sleep; the
nightmare having lifted like a veil, as if moving on to trouble
another.

* * *

Within a small corridor of Arlos starport, interconnecting an
airlock, a dozing man awoke as he heard the door
’
s control panel emit a short bleep.
He looked up to see the red light that had once indicated that the
door was locked, had now changed to green. He blinked himself
further awake just as the door slid open, and his heart almost
stopped as he saw his worst nightmare step on through.

Clad in
black suits, helmets covering their heads and faces, the six new
arrivals to the port paused for but a moment to assess their
surroundings. Bright ruby-red eyes fell on the man sitting on the
floor, only feet from where they now stood. They drew their
weapons.

The man
started to struggle to his feet, his eyes wide as saucers. A scream
lodged itself in his throat, as if it itself was unwilling to
expose itself to the invaders. A shotgun levelled itself at him.
There was a sound of thunder and tremendous pain ripped through his
chest. He toppled backward and gasped as the pain mixed with shock
and disbelief. He turned a pleading expression to the ruby-red
eyes, begging them to spare his life. He tried to speak, but the
scream was still blocking his throat. A thin gasp was all that was
permitted to pass.

He had been safe here! They had all been safe here! Just a
few more hours and he could have gotten away! He should have made a
bigger effort to get on that last ship out! It
wasn
’
t fair! Why
him? Just a few more hours…

A second
round finished him, and as his vision faded he saw the invaders
start forward, preparing to deal the same fate, via a multitude of
different weapons, to the other refugees sharing the corridor. They
would cut down everyone that stood before them, taking no prisoners
and sparing no lives.

* * *

“
We
’
re going to have to cut her open,”
Estelle said, unable to wrench her eyes away from
Barber
’
s face.
The thought was already starting to turn her stomach. She turned to
Kelly who was still backing off, a hand on her own stomach, as if
attempting to quell the churning within. Their eyes met.

“
I
’
ll keep watch,” Kelly said and
darted out of the mortuary without waiting for any acknowledgement
from her commanding officer.

“
I
’
ll go with her,” Enrique
volunteered, before he too bolted out the room after Kelly, leaving
Estelle, Dodds and Chaz standing over the body.

“
Right… right,” Estelle said, snapping out of her trance.
Though she had tried to deny it, Enrique was right. All the
evidence was there right in front of her. The thing they had come
for was inside the dead woman lying on the gurney and there was
only one way they were going to get it out. She turned away and
began looking around the mortuary. She found what she was searching
for at one end of the room. Her fingers brushed over a number of
different stainless steel medical implements, before they closed
around the one she needed. Grasping it firmly in her hand, she
returned to the two men.

“
No!” Dodds said in response to the question that did not need
asking.

Estelle
thrust the scalpel towards him, ignoring his protest. “Dodds…”
Estelle said, her voice a little shaky.

“
No! No way!” he said again, retreating to
the other side of the gurney, putting the dead woman between the
two of them. He pointed to the scalpel. “And certainly not
with
that
,
that archaic tool! Isn’t there a
laser cutter?”

“
No, we have to use this.” She heard it come almost like an
apology.

“
Why? Cutters are good enough for organs…”

“
It could damage the card. Now, come on, Dodds.” She made to
walk around the gurney.

“
No, Estelle, stay there! No, Estelle,
stay! You
’
ll have to do it. I can
’
t.” His voice was shaking, his face
showing unmistakable signs of distress.

“
I
’
m not doing it,” Estelle
said.

“
Why not?”

“
Because I
’
m your superior and… and
I
’
m ordering you
to.”

Dodds
’
distressed expression disappeared for a fraction of a second,
to be replaced by one of disbelief.
“You
’
re
ordering
me to?” he said, incredulously.

“
Yes, Dodds, I
’
m ordering you to.” Her voice was
shaking again, as was the scalpel she held. She could see part of
her own face reflected in it. It did not look confident.

Dodds gave a tiny, humourless chuckle. “Well, then I guess
I
’
m going to have
to disobey that order, Lieutenant.”

“
Dodds!”

“
What are you going to do about it,
Estelle?” Dodds said, throwing his hands up into the air. “File a
report that said I refused to cut open a dead woman upon your
orders because I was too scared? In that case,
you
’
d
better prepare to add yourself, as well as Kelly and Enrique, to
that list.”

Estelle
said nothing, not blaming Dodds for refusing to do as she said. She
had merely chosen to flex her muscles as the commanding officer and
delegate an undesirable duty on to another. The idea of cutting
open the woman lying on the table was no more appealing to her than
any of them. But if she could pass on the responsibility… She
looked to the last person in the room, that had not yet expressed
an objection to the task.

“
Chaz?” The big man looked around at her, his focus having
still been on Barber, his expression remorseful. “You were keen to
get here and get this done.”

* * *

The scalpel hovered in front of him, still held in
Estelle
’
s hand,
the light catching it in places as the woman
’
s hand shook. Chaz looked once
again to Barber and then back again to the scalpel, before he
plucked it from Estelle
’
s grasp.

Yes, he had been keen to get here, but not to do this. He had
not believed what the little boy, Ben, had told him. He had to see
the truth for himself. Even now, with the evidence lying in front
of him, it was difficult for him to believe. He looked again at
Barber
’
s peaceful
face and thought back over the memories.

You were just doing your job
, he
thought to himself, before he buried his sorrow deep within
him.

* * *

Dodds and Estelle gave one another a worried look as the big
man held the scalpel, acknowledging neither of them. He stood with
his eyes focused on Barber
’
s face, as if stuck in his own
world.

“
Chaz?” Dodds prompted him after a time.

“
Just give me a second, okay?” Chaz said in a quiet
voice.

“
Whenever you
’
re ready,” Estelle said.

* * *

Sweeping
into the central hall, the six black-clad soldiers were given the
same reception as they had in the airlock corridor. Even though the
refugees here had had some forewarning of what was to come, hearing
the gunfire and cries of the earlier victims, most were still quite
unprepared. The screams and shouting began at the first sighting of
the black suits and, as one, people rose and tried to escape. Even
before the soldiers began their slaughter there were casualties:
limbs were tangled, bones were snapped, and heads were crushed in
the stampede.

Their
weapons already drawn, the lead soldiers fired upon those
immediately in front of them, bursts of plasma bolts burning
through clothes and ripping into flesh, repeated hits opening up
gaping wounds and spilling blood. Bullets performed to a lesser
degree, but were no less accurate as they were deadly. In the space
of just a few seconds, the area around the soldiers was splattered
with blood, torn clothing and burnt lumps of flesh that had been
torn from their victims.

Behind
the front row, two other soldiers each pulled a grenade and threw
them deep into the crowd. The explosions had their desired effect
of killing many, maiming others and causing even greater
panic.

With
their dramatic entrance over, the soldiers advanced after their
prey. No-one was to be spared: infants, children, men, women and
the elderly were all fair game. There was no return fire from any
of the refugees, not even the slightest attempt to defend
themselves; the men and women well aware of the futility of such
actions.

* * *

Okay, you’ve had a good run. Ten years of service, a couple
of major operations; one colossal one. You’ve nearly been killed,
let’s see, three or four times. Today may as well count for another
ten. Plenty to talk about and inspire others with. Could probably
spin out two or three books from it. I think I deserve to take the
rest of my life off now. At least I don’t have to witness the
amateur surgery. Thank God for small mercies…

Kelly
sat on the floor, hugging her knees and reminiscing over the
past.

“
You okay, Mouse?” Enrique said.

“
Please don
’
t call me that.”

“
They’ll be done soon. Just try not to think about
it.”

“
Then stop bringing it up.”

In their
bid to get away from the goings-on in the morgue, the two had
retreated back to the main entrance to the medical unit, Enrique
having taken point at the door.

“
Sorry,” Enrique said, then,
“What
’
s
wrong?”

Kelly
saw him looking at her with concern. She had been rubbing at the
side of her head. “My head still hurts,” she said.

Enrique
left his post at the door and knelt down beside his friend. “Want
me to look?”

“
Yeah, see if you can see anything. Here,” Kelly indicated to
the side of her head, that she had knocked in the cockpit. Enrique
parted her brown hair in the area she had shown him, looking for
signs of trauma. She was not entire sure what he should be looking
for, as she had not found anything herself; no cuts and no
bleeding, although there might be a bruise. He persevered until she
winced and turned her head around to escape his exploring fingers,
taking hold of one of his hands with hers.

“
Sorry,” he said once more, as she looked around to face
him.

“
Anything?”

“
Nothing on the surface. You might have bruised your
brain.”

Kelly
smiled and let out a chuckle. It sounded funny. Enrique smiled,
too.

For a moment, they both became aware of how close they were
to one another, their hands holding on to one
another
’
s. They
stayed motionless for a few moments, looking into one
another
’
s eyes,
neither speaking.

“
Enrique, I think you should be keeping
your eyes on the
door
,” she said after a while,
breaking their gaze and turning away to look down the corridor in
the direction of the morgue. Enrique released her hand and returned
to his post.

“
I don
’
t know about you, but I just want
to get out of here,” Kelly said. “This day has been too long. Do
you think they
’
ll
be done soon?”

Enrique
didn’t answer her.

She
looked up, to see him staring fixated out the door’s small oval
window. “Enrique?”

“
People are moving,” Enrique said. He then swore
loudly.

“
What?”

“
We
’
ve got company!” The man had
frozen.

“
What
’
s going on?” Kelly asked, starting
to get to her feet, so she could see for herself.

“
Don
’
t move,” Enrique hissed, waving her
back down. He remained where he was for a few more moments before
he pulled back from the door and grabbed Kelly
’
s hand, hauling her up off the
floor.