Balance of Power (Battleborn c23), page 10
Somewhere between the pornographic commercials of the brothels and other, hardly more serious advertisements of her ComLink, Kareena found what she was looking for. She climbed a staircase to one of the upper galleries, purposefully stopped at the door marked 'Hotel' and went inside.
The fat woman at the front desk seemed to take any distraction from what she was feeding into her brain via the data cable as a personal insult. She limited the conversation to facilitating the transaction using Kareena's CashCard and handing her a key. Finding the cabin with the appropriate number was left to the guest. The quarters proved to be a sleeping compartment without any luxuries. Kareena squeezed into the two cubic yards of her refuge, carefully closed the door and took a deep breath. She stowed her luggage in a corner, pulled her legs close to her body and wrapped her arms around her knees. The self-control she had laboriously maintained fell away abruptly. She was trembling all over. A pitiful sob crept from her throat. Then she began to cry and stopped only when exhaustion took its toll and she fell into a fitful sleep, interrupted by dreams of hordes of Slags raping her over and over again.
04-11-2211, Aigis Orbital Fortress, Earth Orbit
A knock jolted José out of his concentration.
"Yes!" he shouted indignantly.
The door to his quarters opened. Zapp came in and looked around. It was the first time she had entered his refuge.
"What's up?" asked José, already a bit more soothed. The presence of the red-haired pilot always improved his mood. She was hot-tempered, sassy, and just his type. He liked her more than he would care to admit. And he was pretty sure she returned his feelings.
She held out a data crystal to him. "The latest maneuver reports."
"Why didn’t you just send them to me over the com?" He already knew the answer to his question.
She tilted her head. "I was just in the neighborhood. Thought I'd drop them off in person. But if you'd rather have them over the com, I can just leave."
"No. Stay!" The words were out of his mouth before his brain could object.
She grinned and closed the door behind her. Deliberately, she placed the data crystal on his small work table. Her gaze lingered on the nearby holoprojector, an image of Lucy hovering above its display.
"Your wife?" she asked.
He nodded. "Yes."
"And what's she like?"
"Hottest chick in the L4."
"Looks like a spacer."
"She is. She spent her youth on an ore freighter with no rotating section. Grew up in zero gravity. We live on the hub of the Xuesong space station."
Zapp leaned against the edge of the table. "Personally, I think the spacers are a little skinny. Just skin and bones. Nothing to them. Not my cup of tea."
José's gaze wandered over the pilot's body. Her pronounced feminine curves gave his brain stem the go-ahead to produce hormones.
"I love her," he tried to save himself. "She stood by me when I was in deep shit. I hope this is over soon so I can get back to her."
Zapp sighed. The look on her face left no doubt of her disappointment. José took an inward breath. Test passed.
She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Can I ask you something?"
He nodded.
"I've heard rumors that you were dishonorably discharged after your first tour of duty." She looked at him questioningly.
He raised his eyebrows. Not his favorite subject, but better than the blunt advances.
"What did you screw up?" she huffed when he remained silent.
"Do you think it's any of your business?"
A smug smile spread across her face. "So, it's true."
"And if it were?"
She shrugged. "There are a few bets on what you were up to."
He leaned back in his chair. "And what did you bet on?"
"I said you were banging a subordinate."
José laughed out loud. "Were you just testing how easily I respond to come-ons from hot female pilots?"
"Not just," she admitted, moving a little closer to him.
His laughter abruptly stopped. They looked at each other.
"What do you want with an old fossil like me?" he asked.
"Oh, now don't pretend! The few years difference doesn’t matter. Neither of us is quite dewy-eyed anymore."
"That still doesn't answer my question. What are you up to here?"
"We're tied in the cockpit. Maybe I want to find out if you'll do as well in another arena. Who knows how much time I have left to do that? Any mission could be my last. Even more so against the opponents that await us."
He stood up. She put her arms down and propped herself against the edge of the table. The curves of her breasts stood out clearly under the pilot's jumpsuit. Zapp was still in good shape, and not just for her age. Her red hair was not tied in a ponytail as usual, but hung loose over her shoulders. He put his hand on her hip and slowly slid it around her body. She grinned victoriously, grabbed him and pressed her lips to his mouth.
It looked like he had failed the test after all.
An hour later they were lying in his bunk, drenched in sweat. He had his arm over her bare shoulder, letting his fingers slide over her skin.
With Lucy, he had always had to hold back during sex. Not because of her, but because of his crappy condition. With the new implants, that was no longer an issue. He hadn't had a good romp like this in many years. He was looking forward to finally being able to give Lucy what she had always wanted. What she deserved after all the time she had given him attention. To declare this a kind of dress rehearsal was a sad excuse for the fling, but he didn't have a better one at hand.
Zapp turned in his arms until she was on her back, looking him in the eye. "What are you thinking about right now?"
"About Lucy," he answered truthfully.
She smiled. "You really love her."
"Yes."
She snuggled close to him. "That's a good thing. But for right now she's far away and I'm here."
That was the problem.
For a while they lay quietly side by side.
"By the way, you're not just fit in the cockpit," she teased him.
"Thanks."
"I'd say another draw."
"Guess I got lucky again."
"So, what was that about your dishonorable discharge, anyway?"
He groaned. "You don't give up easily."
"You should have figured that out by now. So: what bad did you do?"
José capitulated. "Caused the death of a comrade."
Her interest was piqued. She propped her head on her bent arm and looked at him. "How so?"
"I wanted to prove I was the best. So, I flew risky maneuvers during a combat exercise. It went horribly wrong and we had a collision. I was almost killed. The surgeons had a hard time putting me halfway back together. The other pilot didn't make it."
"Halfway?"
"Yeah. My implants were damaged. Especially the heart. They only did a makeshift repair on those things. I needed new ones, but because of the discharge, it wasn't in the cards. I struggled for years with the broken artificial organs in my chest. It wasn't until I was reenlisted two months ago that I got a replacement."
"What a load of bullshit!"
"You can say that again."
"So you wanted to be the top dog back then?"
"I was, actually; one of the best. I earned my spurs in the Iridium Wars. Showed the corporations that a new player had appeared on the field. I was the first to shoot down one of the AI-controlled fighters that were in the field at the time. Fucking beasts! They were real tough. It was a hell of a time."
"And then what did you have to prove when you were already at the top anyway?"
"Well. In the Iridium Wars, the Shigano Combine not only made a name for itself with its Omega warriors, but also used the first Etas as pilots. The AIs had set new standards. We were a small elite force. The implants were even more exclusive and expensive back then than they are today. Equipping the entire fleet with them was out of the question. So they looked for cheaper alternatives. Even in the Federation."
"Etas." The contempt she put into the word did not escape José.
"I trained the first generation of Eta-class pilots for the Federation. And I can tell you this: they could fly! By their second year on the force, they were already flying circles around us old-timers. And they were still half kids."
"Scumbags!"
"No, they weren't. They were just good as shit. There had never been pilots like that before. At least not organic ones. And when it was decided to equip all squadrons with Etas, I wanted to prove that I still had it too. With the known result."
Zapp screwed up her face. "One thing I don't understand. That filthy brood cost you your career. And yet you keep defending them. What's the point?"
"It wasn't the Etas' fault. They were just doing what they were bred to do. I screwed it up myself."
"Well, now it's your turn again, and the mutants will soon be history."
José wasn't quite so confident. "We'll see."
"I think I'd better go now," Zapp ended the cozy togetherness. "Stands out if I spend all night here."
José didn't argue. She climbed out of bed over him and gathered her clothes. He stayed put and silently watched her dress.
When she finished, she winked at him and went out without another word.
José lay down on his back and folded his arms behind his head. What had he gotten himself into? As if his life wasn't complicated enough already.
04-18-2211, Elysium City, Ares Corporate Republic, Mars
It cost Kareena considerable effort to move away from the small world she had crawled into during the last weeks. The incident at the air lock through which she had entered Hades had left deep scars in her soul. Again and again, the face of her tormentor returned to her mind's eye, she felt his touch, smelled his foul breath. She could not remember the last time she had slept more than an hour or two at a time without being pulled back to reality by nightmares. She left the two cubic yards of her capsule hotel only to have a meal at one of the nearby soup kitchens or to run other, brief errands. That was as far as she had ventured into the depths of Hades. At least physically.
Using her radio implant, she had discovered a pirate transmitter illegally connected to the Ares Republic's ComNet and hacked into it. The bandwidth wasn't exhilarating, but it was sufficient to perform simple tasks like checking her mailbox. Five days ago, she had finally received the relieving news that her sister had arrived on Mars and was on her way to Hades. The meeting place they had arranged was not far from Kareena's hotel, but outside the area she was familiar with. She had to pull herself together. She had a job to do. She had to somehow block out what had happened to her. And soon.
She forced herself to put one foot in front of the other. Most of the people here weren't rapists, but more or less decent people who were just trying to make ends meet. Like a mantra, she steadily repeated the phrase in her mind. At first, she flinched every time someone brushed against her in the crowd. She constantly felt like the Slag would come for her. She had to concentrate hard to remember that he was dead. That no one here wanted to harm her. Still, it took maximum effort for her to relax a little.
She followed the path indicated by the map in her memory. The shoes she had bought at a thrift store not far from the hotel were much too big. Several times she nearly tripped over her own feet. It suited her woeful condition. She was almost embarrassed to meet with her sister in such a run-down state. But her current state of emergency was, after all, the reason Nia came here in the first place.
The dive where they had arranged to meet was a little away from the hustle and bustle in a dim side tunnel. Numerous guests of the 'Scrambler's Inn' wore red powdered overalls or pressure suits. Probably a smugglers' hangout. Kareena looked around. Nia didn't seem to be there yet. Instead, a burly Beta-class mutant got up from his chair and came toward her. She had to pull herself together not to turn around on the spot and run away.
"Kareena?" the man asked.
For a moment she just stared into his face, then nodded.
"Come with me. I'll take you to her."
Still somewhat reluctantly, she followed the stranger between the tables. Dozens of pairs of eyes followed her progress. Among the guests were a few more mutants, as far as she could tell, all Betas. The rest were mostly Slags. Kareena felt naked under their gaze, defenseless, helpless. She feared that at any moment she would be grabbed by strong hands and pushed to the ground. But one by one the people turned away from her again. Nobody paid excessive attention to her. She went on unhindered.
Her guide stopped at a door at the other end of the dining room. By eye contact, he signaled the host to press a button under the counter, whereupon a passage opened. Behind it was an empty corridor with several doors leading off. The Beta knocked on one of them. A moment later it swung open, and they entered a small, unadorned back room. In Nia's company was another woman, but Kareena had eyes only for her sister at first. She immediately noticed how powerful and self-confident she seemed. Deep seriousness oozed from her every pore. There didn't seem to be much left of the freaky, perpetually goofy teenager Kareena remembered.
"Hi," Nia greeted her.
Kareena smiled involuntarily. The familiar face dispelled the feeling of permanent threat that had so dominated her. Her sister did likewise, and then they embraced warmly.
"It's good to see you," Kareena managed.
Only slowly did they part from each other. Kareena wiped tears from her eyes. "Where have you been all these years?"
"Been around quite a bit."
"And where are you coming from now?"
"Titan."
Kareena had already speculated Nia had come to Mars from the outer solar system. Still, when her guess was confirmed, she faltered. "What took you there?"
"The war the year before last. I signed on with one of the blockade runners that supplied the Titanians with food."
Now Kareena was truly speechless.
"You were in the Titan War?" she struggled to say.
Upon reflection, it wasn't so far-fetched. The Titan uprising against the United Space Industries Corporation had been the high point of resistance to the corporations so far. So Nia had remained true to the fight against corporate domination of the solar system. The young woman who had once lived so carefree into the day seemed to have found her calling. As a corporate citizen, Kareena could not endorse the goals to which her sister had committed herself, but the fact that Nia had gone to war for her ideals commanded her respect.
Her sister nodded. "And I stayed there after that." She glanced at her companion. "'Which Jill is not entirely innocent in.'"
The two women smiled at each other. It took Kareena a moment to understand the implication of what she had just heard.
"Hi." Jill raised her hand in greeting. "Nia has told me a lot about you. It's nice to finally meet you in person."
There was no end to the surprises. Kareena took a closer look at her sister's companion. Jill towered over the two sisters by almost half a head and was more delicate than the usual Martians. Presumably, she had grown up in even lower gravity, almost a spacer, but obviously strong enough to withstand Martian gravity without an exoskeleton. Her somewhat elongated face did not conform to the common ideal of beauty, but was certainly not unattractive. Her hands testified to hard physical labor. Kareena estimated her to be a bit older than she herself was.
Hesitantly, she held out her hand to her. "It’s nice to meet you, too."
Jill took Kareena's hand. Her grip was stronger than her physique suggested.
"And that one," Nia pointed to the Beta who had taken up position next to the women, "is Toss."
The mutant merely nodded.
Kareena eyed those gathered. "Did you all meet in the war?"
"I met Jill there," her sister replied. "Toss is from here. We worked together before I flew to Saturn. But for now, you tell me! What happened to mom and dad? What are you doing here in Hades?"
Kareena took a deep breath. She needed a few moments to collect herself enough to tell her story. Since her arrival in Hades, the recent ordeal had dominated her thoughts. Life beyond her fear and the feeling of absolute helplessness had faded far into the background in the last few days. She had to remind herself of the events that had happened further back in time. She also struggled with what she wanted to reveal and what she preferred to keep to herself. She began with the pure facts. The assassination, her research with the reference to the triad leader Zhǎnglǎo and finally the trip to Hades. However, she left out the incident at the entrance lock.
Nia's expression was stony. Only her cheek muscle twitched when Kareena told of her parents' death. Jill took her in her arms, ran her hand tenderly over her head. Toss watched in silence.
"That doesn't make any sense," Jill interjected as Kareena's narrative ended. "Your parents were just small-time corporate employees. Why would someone send a professional killer after them? And why didn't you call security?"
"The attack was not on our parents." Nia's eyes were fixed firmly on Kareena. "Was it?"
Kareena could not withstand her sister's gaze for long. Her hand began to tremble. Staring at the floor, she shook her head guiltily.
"What happened?" Nia's tone had lost some of its sharpness.
Kareena made an effort to make eye contact again. She could see no reproach in Nia's face. Only a desire to know what had happened.
"Probably something to do with my work," she conceded. "My last assignment." Kareena was reluctant to reveal her story and the corporate internals it contained to these people. But if she didn't confide in Nia and her friends, she would get no help from them. She began. She gave a rough outline of her experiences on Aurora and the suspension after she returned to Mars. Explained her suspicions that anyone from Cynarian might be involved in the attack.
