Omega Force 7: Redemption (24 page)

The reaction from everyone was more or less what Jason had expected. Kalette and Annada both screamed in fear while the rest of his crew just looked at Lucky as if he'd lost his mind despite the fact they'd heard Jason give the order. He let the chaos go on for a few more moments.

"Shut up!!" he bellowed. All noise stopped at once save for Kalette's pathetic whimpers even though he knew Lucky wasn't squeezing hard enough to actually cause her any pain. "All will be explained in due time. Doc, come here for a moment." When Doc approached he leaned down and whispered instructions into his friend's ear. Doc nodded twice and then walked off to the infirmary.

"Now, I'd rather not do this with an audience," Jason said. "But I needed you all in here to give the illusion that things were normal. I need Crusher to go get restraints for Kalette and then the only people I want in the room are her, me, Annada, and Doc once he gets back. The rest of you go to the bridge."

They were all still so stunned they filed out without complaint, save for the wink Kage gave him to let him know he understood that Jason wanted them watching from the bridge, just not sitting in the room looming over a scared young woman. He looked up and caught the glare from Annada, full of venom and unbridled fury. For a moment he considered having her restrained as well since once the truth came out it was possible that rage would be redirected. In the end he dismissed the idea since even though as captain he was the ultimate authority on a ship underway he figured it probably wasn't smart to chain the heir to an empire with such a powerful military to her seat.

"Captain, I demand to know what this nonsense is about," Annada said once she'd calmed down marginally, at least enough to find her voice.

"That is why you're here, Annada," Jason said. "This will be quick, I promise."

"Do not worry, Kalette," she said to her panic-stricken friend as Crusher latched the manacles around her petite wrists and walked off towards the bridge without a word. Doc came out a moment later with three syringes, each loaded with a clear liquid.

“Let’s get started,” Jason said, sitting down and nodding for Doc to take the seat next to the prisoner. “Kalette, you heard me tell everyone about how we were able to track Crisstof Dalton’s ship?”

“Yes,” Kalette said quietly, her eyes never leaving the needles.

“Kage accomplished this by breaking into the ship’s main computer through an unsecured com-node,” Jason said. “With this we were also able to access Dalton’s personal com system. Would you like to know what messages he exchanged with a certain high-ranking Avarian official? Messages which led us to where we are now, with you chained to a galley chair?" At this Kalette's eyes widened and she began to tremble, but she held her silence.

"Admirable," Jason said when she clamped her mouth shut, "but ultimately pointless. While I'd hoped you'd talk on your own, we have other methods. Doc, if you please." Without so much as a warning Doc picked up one of the syringes and plunged it into Kalette's arm, quickly depressing the plunger.

"What is this!" Annada said sharply.

"This is a form of the drug that Crusher's intelligence service uses to get their prisoners to talk," Jason said. "Unfortunately for someone as small as Kalette there is a fine balance between dosing enough for compliance and a tad too much and causing a brain hemorrhage and, unfortunately, quite painful death. That's why Doc is standing by with another injector with a fast-acting antidote in addition to the three doses of the drug. Now, Kalette ... please tell me about your role in getting Annada out of the Imperial compound on Avaris." Kalette looked at him with abject fear etched on her face and tears streaming down her face, but kept silent. "Doc." Once gain Doc grabbed a syringe and plunged it into her arm.

"Please stop!" Kalette said.

"That's more than we gave the ConFed agent that led us to Vyrt where they were keeping Annada," Jason said. "You'd better begin talking if you want that antidote."

"They will kill my parents and sister!" Kalette said, sobbing.

Annada started at this admission. "Kalette? Is there any truth to these claims?"

"I am so sorry, my netjere!" Kalette cried. "I had no choice!"

"Please start from the beginning," Jason said quietly. "They have no way to know what you say here on this ship."

"Chancellor Vulem approached me three years ago, right after I had been moved to First Attendant," Kalette began, talking fast. "He said it was vital that we get the netjere away from the Capital. I asked why, but he would tell me nothing, so I refused.

"Once I refused him I think he became afraid I would tell someone about his request, so the next time he came to see me he had a video of my family being held hostage and told me they would be safe as long as I kept my silence. It wasn't long afterwards that he approached me again and said it was critical that the netjere be removed from the city. He said it was for her own safety and that I would be helping to protect her."

"I would assume you were suspicious of someone offering help after they'd threatened to kill your entire family," Jason said.

"Of course!" Kalette said, looking at Doc fearfully before continuing. "But he insisted that no harm would come to her and that I would be able to go with her. When I tried to refuse again he took me to see my family, where they were being held in cages, and told me time was running short and that I had a choice to make."

"This confirms much of what we knew," Jason said, nodding. "You were instructed to get her out of the city, preferably off Avaris ... but something went wrong. There was a flurry of messages that seem to coincide to when you were grabbed, but they don't make a lot of sense. We're missing the context that we'd like you to fill in."

"I don't think the people that took us were working with Velum," Kalette said, her face flushed and hands shaking. "Two members of the security team that were placed by the Chancellor looked surprised by the attempt and were killed by the abductors when they tried to ward them off. I also overheard members of the crew talking about the need to keep us hidden until the word was given and then they could dispose of us."

"Someone else grabbed them?" Doc asked, looking at Jason.

"How would they have known unless someone had been working another angle the entire time," Jason said. "We'll have to get Kage to cross reference—"

"Can this be discussed after she gets the antidote?" Annada said as she looked at Kalette with concern.

"Oh, that," Doc said. "There is no antidote."

"What?! She will die then?"

"Not likely," Jason said. "Sorry, Kalette, but we've injected you with sterile saline. The side effects will include being a little more hydrated, but that's about it."

"But I feel ill," Kalette insisted.

"Psychosomatic," Doc said. "The body will respond to what the mind believes. You were never in any danger."

"We assumed you were an unwilling participant since you did risk your life escaping and finding us," Jason said. "You also could have given us away multiple times now and haven't, but we needed to scare you a bit to get you to give up what you knew. Sorry."

"It is I who am sorry," Kalette said, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I have betrayed you, netjere—"

"You were put into an impossible situation," Annada said with a dismissive wave. "We will discuss it later when we are both calm. Now come, let us get you lying down so you can rest. Is that acceptable, Captain?"

"Yes," Jason said. "If she's willing to work with us later?" Kalette nodded at this as Annada moved to help her out of the seat once Doc reached around and deactivated the magnetically locked restraints.

"We're still about a week from Avarian space," Jason said gently. "Go get some rest and collect yourself. Tomorrow we'll begin planning around whatever information you can provide us." They watched as Annada took her into the starboard berthing bay and closed the door behind them.

"I may have underestimated the netjere," Doc said. "She seemed like your prototypical wealthy, spoiled young female, but she showed a lot of character looking past Kalette leading her into a violent abduction."

"She has all the marks of being a good leader," Jason nodded. "Let's hope we can keep her alive long enough to realize her potential."

****

"The
Defiant
is still heading straight towards us," Kage reported. "But she's decreased her velocity some."

"Look at these reactor readings," Jason said. "They didn't have much of a choice. Engines aren't looking so great either. I bet Kellea is losing her mind at having to abuse her ship like that."

"It almost makes me want to try and hack into the internal security feed," Kage laughed. "How were the conversations with the girls?"

"Kalette didn't know a whole lot," Jason said. "Once she had a full night of sleep and something to eat she provided us with all the names that she knew were associated with the abduction, and Annada provided the context as to who they were. Now you and I will need to see where these fit into the messages we stole off Crisstof's com node and hopefully find out how the ConFed fits into all this."

"Easy," Kage said, yawning.

"Oh yeah," Jason said, rolling his eyes.

"Why don't we just drop all this in the lap of Avarian Imperial Intelligence?" Kage asked. "Besides your vested interest in sticking around as long as possible, of course."

"One of the names Kalette heard was the director of the intelligence service," Jason said. "Go figure."

Over the next four hours Jason and Kage worked in the cramped com room, trying to put names to messages and slowly building a picture about what was going on in the Avarian Capital. The part that didn't make sense was that Crisstof seemed to be genuinely surprised when Annada was taken to ConFed space. Some of the messages from the Avarians indicated they clearly suspected Dalton of going rogue for reasons of his own. Kage was also able to dig up a few messages from the
Defiant
to someone in the ConFed's defense subcommittee raising concerns about the Avarians kidnapping their own netjere as an excuse to strike.

"This is only reinforcing my intense dislike of governments in general," Jason said, taking a sip of room temperature chroot and almost involuntarily spitting it back out.

"Not me," Kage said absently as his fingers flew over the controls. "I love governments."

"That's an odd sentiment from you, all things considered," Jason said.

"Most of my activities are on the wrong side of the law, this is true," Kage said. "But they also usually involve separating something I want from the person who happens to own it at the time. Strong, stable governments make people comfortable and complacent. Instability makes people hold onto their valuables more tightly."

"That makes sense in a horrible sort of way," Jason nodded. "So what do we think about all of this? I can't tell if Crisstof was trying to kick off a galaxy-wide war or if he's so stupid he was simply playing an opportunity that presented itself. I don't know the Avarians well enough to figure out who is screwing who in this deal and the ConFed is far too good at compartmentalizing to know if we have an agency, a councilmember, or an insane agent causing all the problems on that side. Rarely do they act with any sort of unified authority and we're not seeing the fleet movements to indicate they either plan to invade or even take the Avarian threat seriously."

"It is a bit of a mess," Kage agreed. "But I'm starting to see a pattern in all of it. Let me work at it for a few more hours and I'll get back to you."

"I can stay," Jason said, rubbing his hands together.

"I appreciate the solidarity, Captain," Kage said, "but you're distracting me with your constant outbursts and inexplicable organization methodology."

"Blunt, but honest," Jason said, rising stiffly to his feet and grabbing his mug. "If you need help, call Lucky."

"Thanks," Kage said, waving him away with his two left hands.

"Have you made any progress?" Annada asked as he walked back into the galley. He couldn't tell if she was still angry with him over how he’d treated Kalette during the interrogation. He could try to explain that he had done it to protect her, but he happened to agree with her that the entire incident was terrible. It was also necessary given their time constraints, but that didn't make him feel much better about it.

"We're getting there," he said. "How is Kalette?"

"She is calming down, though I do not believe she will ever forgive herself."

"It's a tough thing," Jason said, sitting at the table across from her. "Being forced to make a choice like that."

"You think she chose incorrectly?" Annada said. Jason didn't hear any rancor behind the question, so he considered it honestly.

"I don't think there was a correct choice for her," Jason said. "She obviously loves you very much and is extremely dedicated to do what she did in order to save you ... but she also loves her family."

"You said for her," Annada said. "Don't you mean for everyone?"

"There's a reason people like me don't have families," Jason said. "Kalette is a gentle soul, picked to be an attendant to an imperial heir ... she'll always look for a way to save everyone. Vulem would have known this and that's why he threatened her family and not her. I have no doubt that she would have given her life for you; that would have been an easy choice for her to make."