Starship Desolation Page 6

  Borgnavi looked flustered. “I have traveled a great distance to negotiate, and you walk out?”

  “I didn’t see any negotiating on your part. I only heard demands.”

  Borgnavi scowled at him.

  The Decluvians weren’t the best negotiators in the galaxy, and they wore their emotions on their sleeves. But they knew enough to ask for more than they wanted. And Rylon knew this. It was all about posturing, but eventually the Ambassador would come back down to reality.

  “Phiblios.”

  “There are 15 inhabited planets in that sector. We’d have to relocate countless civilians, not to mention the mineral value.” Rylon pretended to be appalled at the idea.

  “We want Phiblios.”

  In truth, there were only a handful of settlers in the Phiblios sector. It was junk. The planets had no real value. Rylon knew the Declovians wanted the system, but he had no idea why. “I don’t know, that’s asking a lot. I’ll have to bring that before the King, but I don’t think he will agree.”

  “Phiblios, or there is no deal.”

  “I will need assurances from you. Do not make me look like a fool. I will present this to the King on your behalf. But you must give me your word that the Emperor will agree to these terms.”

  The Ambassador leaned in and smiled. “Unlike you, I have the authority to negotiate on his behalf.”

  “I can only aspire to be someone as powerful as yourself. Thank you for your time and consideration. I will be in contact with you as soon as the King makes a decision.” Rylon was stroking Borgnavi’s ego, and playing hard to get. He didn’t need to get Valinok’s approval on anything. The boy would do as he suggested.

  16

  SLADE

  The inmates were hosed down with a high pressure line. It felt like thousands of pellets hitting your skin. Afterwards, they stepped into a chamber with a disinfectant gas.

  Slade emerged from the chamber, hacking and coughing. Her lungs were on fire. It was probably Methylchloraltrioxilate. A known carcinogen.

  She covered her private parts as best she could. But no one was shy about looking. Half of the men had pitched a tent. The other half probably couldn’t get it up. Slade was a good looking woman. That fact wasn’t lost on anyone.

  The prisoners were marched to another room where a woman with latex gloves performed a cavity search on each of the inmates. Slade breathed a sigh of relief that it was a woman conducting the search, and that she was changing gloves between each prisoner. But Pemberton made sure to take a special interest in Slade’s examination, standing over the woman’s shoulder.

  The prisoners were issued new jumpsuits, then escorted to their cells. The entire prison watched with glee as the freshman class of inmates nervously strolled into their new home. There were whistles and catcalls. Hoots and hollers. And all manner of sexual offers.

  Giles was pulled out of line and forced to wait in the commons area. The rest were shown to their compartments.

  Slade caught a lucky break—she was bunking with Kirby. At least she wouldn’t have a fight every night after the lights went out. She figured she could handle Kirby. And he seemed like a nice enough kid. He had probably hacked a computer system somewhere. Exposed government corruption. Did something to piss someone of power off. He wasn’t like the others, and he probably didn’t really belong here. Neither did Slade, for that matter. But if you asked anybody who was an inmate at Alpha Ceti 7, none of them belonged here. They were all innocent.

  “What we’ve got here is a leader,” Pemberton said as he circled Giles. “An instigator. One thing we do not like here are leaders. Thinkers. Revolutionaries. You keep your head down and do your time, and we will all get along just fine. But this man started a riot.” Pemberton gripped his baton. “Let this be a lesson to anyone who would lead a revolt.”

  Pemberton whacked Giles in the gut. He doubled over with pain. The other guards joined in beating Giles to the ground. They hit him and kicked him and zapped him with their stun batons. Blood splattered. Ribs cracked. Bones broke. When it was all said and done, Giles was a twitching blob on the floor, amidst a pool of blood.

  Pemberton looked upon his handiwork with glee.

  A couple of guards dragged Giles’s broken body to the medical center.

  It was a running joke among the inmates. Sure, the facility had a medical center for the staff and to administer routine medications for the inmates. They were quick to deal with colds and flu and infectious outbreaks. But forget about major medical. The major medical center was the facility’s crematorium.

  They boxed Giles up and put him on the conveyor belt, and rolled him into a 4000 degree furnace. You could hear his screams reverberate all the way through the cell block.

  Pemberton and his gang weren’t fucking around. Sure, they got paid by the number of inmates housed. But that didn’t keep them from sacrificing one, just to let the others know how the rule of law worked here.

  The first night was the worst. If you could make it through the first night, maybe you could make it through the second. And if you could make it through the second, maybe the third wasn’t out of the question. And that was how you had to do your time at Alpha Ceti 7. One day at a time. For the rest of your life.

  For some, it was too much. The prospect of spending the rest of their life in this shit-hole was too much to bear. They hung themselves, or found a way to open up their carotid artery, or slice their wrists. Kirby cried himself to sleep that night. But he didn’t kill himself.

  There were no windows in the facility. You had no idea if it was day or night. You had to rely on the schedule provided for you by the facility’s lighting. It was an underground facility. The surface wasn’t survivable. With an average temperature of 300 degrees, Alpha Ceti 7 was the perfect place for a prison. Even if you could escape, you had nowhere to go. There were over 2000 inmates incarcerated in the facility. None of them were ever going to see the light of day again.

  And the smell was something atrocious. Like an old pair of gym clothes that never got washed. The hot, damp, musty body odor of 2000 men. Pungent and sour.

  The facility was completely dependent upon resupply ships. Of course, there were evacuation protocols for the staff, in case of emergency. But a delayed resupply transport could wreak havoc on the day-to-day operations.

  Breakfast was a chalky, thick liquid that contained all of the vital nutrients. Bland and tasteless. But it would keep you from starving. You weren’t going to get bacon and eggs in this place, not even on holidays.

  In the mess hall, all eyes were on the newbies. The inmates were like sharks eying fresh meat. Slade took a seat at an empty table. Kirby followed close behind. He knew if anyone could protect him in here, it would be Slade.

  She stared at her cup of tasteless slop, then began to slurp it down. It was gross and left a bad aftertaste. She kept her eyes sharp, surveying the crowd. She knew she was going to get tested on her first day in the joint, just like she had been on the transport ship. It was just a question of who. Would it be the big, thick meathead? The short mouthy guy with his entourage? The inmate with the cold stare and a gang tattoo under his eye? Those were just the guys at the next table. Every inmate in here was a potential threat.

  In the sea of hard faces, she saw one that was familiar. Commander Ian Marlow. Former Commander Marlow—now inmate 2993836.

  Marlow caught sight of Slade and moved to her table. “Mind if I have a seat, Captain.”

  “Certainly, Commander.”

  “I wouldn’t wish this place on my worst enemy. But it’s nice to see a familiar face.” He set his half eaten cup of gruel on the table and sat down. “Welcome to the resort. I’m sure you’ll get a visit from the real welcoming committee soon. So keep eyes in the back of your head.”

  “Who should I be concerned with?”

  “It may be the warden’s prison, but Tiny controls the inmates. Over my left shoulder, two tables back. You can’t miss him.”

  Slade’s eyes fou
nd the man. He made Giles look like a dwarf. Tiny’s face was hard and rugged. He was built like a tank. Broad shoulders. Hulking biceps. Cinder blocks for fists. It was easy to see why he ran the show in here. There wasn’t another inmate that could match him in a fight. Whatever Tiny wanted, he got. By the look in his eye, he wanted Slade. He was staring right back at her.

  Slade blew him a kiss, just to let him know she wasn’t afraid of him.

  17

  WALKER

  Walker gripped his weapon and lined up a pair of eyes in his sights. He carefully placed a few logs onto the glowing coals, hoping to restart the fire. Most animals are afraid of fire, he thought. Maybe if he could get the fire going again it would keep these things at bay.

  Bailey was up and barking. He kept it up even as the predators emerged from the darkness. The little guy didn’t lack on courage or tenacity, that was for certain. Either that, or he was completely unaware of just how small he was in comparison.

  As the predators drew closer, their form became more apparent. They looked like armor plated saber tooth tigers. Long, sharp fangs. Ravenous eyes. Scale-like articulated plates lined their backs, with rows of thorny spikes. This wasn’t a cat that liked to be petted. These were vicious killers, and they were drooling in anticipation of their next meal.

  Bailey had a lot of bark, but not near enough bite for these beasts. But he wasn’t backing down.

  The beasts closed in.

  Walker fired.

  BAM! BAM! BAM!

  One of the beasts went down in a flurry of gunfire. Blood erupted from the creature’s armor plating.

  BAM! BAM! BAM!

  Another went down. Its heavy body slapped the rocky ground. Blood pooled around its carcass.

  Walker fired with speed and precision. But he wasn’t fast enough.

  The third beast tackled Walker. The creature flared its fangs and dove for Walker’s jugular. Walker dodged and struggled with the beast. He could smell its hot breath. It was powerful—300 pounds of lean muscle. A pure killing machine.

  Bailey kept barking. He was the pep squad. But sensing the dire situation, he entered the fray. He bolted forward and clamped his little jaw onto the beast’s hind leg.

  The beast kicked him away.

  Bailey tumbled across the rocks in a plume of dirt. Then he charged right back at the ferocious predator.

  Walker evaded the snapping jaws of the vicious creature. He finally heaved the beast aside and blasted his weapon. Bullets ripped through the predator’s armor. Blood splattered on the rocks. The heavy beast fell limp.

  Walker was bleeding from gouges across his face and neck. He was lucky the beast’s claws hadn’t ripped out his jugular. But at least they were safe.

  Bailey growled at the fallen beast, triumphantly. He looked back at Walker and barked, almost taking credit for the victory.

  “You’re a killer, Bailey. No doubt about it.”

  The bright side to this little altercation was that they had meat. Walker took his tactical knife and skinned and quartered one of the beasts. Then he skewed a chunk of meat on his tactical sword and barbecued it over the fire. He tossed the cooked meat to Bailey for approval. The dog wolfed it down without hesitation. Walker sampled a piece himself. To his surprise, it was tasty. Like a juicy steak back home. It wasn’t tough or gamey. It looked like Walker and Bailey were going to feast like kings.

  There were undoubtedly more of these predators roaming the canyons. It was both a curse and a blessing. They’d have a supply of food, but eventually, Walker was going to run out of bullets. And that would make defending themselves even more difficult.

  A constant source of clean water was their next priority.

  Walker stoked the fire, and the two slept fat and happy for the rest of the night. They set out in the morning to further explore the canyon.

  The shade of the canyon was much more pleasant than the direct sun. It was almost like a casual hike. Just a man and his dog. Walker kept an eye on the ridge line, looking for more saber-toothed monsters. But he didn’t have that eerie sensation of being followed. It would be nice to make it through a whole day without having to fight for your life.

  With a stroke of luck, he found an entrance to a cave. Bailey rushed in, throwing caution to the wind.

  “Bailey!” Walker shouted at the impetuous dog. He gritted his teeth and stormed after him. He had already grown fond of the little guy, but he wasn’t about to admit it.

  Walker moved into the darkness of the cavern. “Sergeant. Get back here!”

  It took a moment for his eyes to adjust.

  “Bailey!” Walker’s voice echoed through the darkness. This was no small cave.

  Walker struck a flashlight. The beam pierced the darkness, finding the rocky walls of the cavern. He scanned the rugged cave—Bailey was nowhere in sight.

  “Bailey?”

  He could hear the dog moving somewhere in the farther recesses of the cavern. The cave funneled off into pitch blackness. Walker followed the passageway as it narrowed. At one point, he had to crawl on his hands and knees to get through a tiny tunnel. He emerged on the other side in a room full of stalactites and stalagmites. A wondrous domed structure. The crystalline ceiling reflected brilliant hues of color from the beam of his flashlight.

  In the center of the chamber, there was a crystal clear pond. Bailey was lapping from its surface. If it was good enough for Bailey, it was good enough for Walker. He knelt down beside the pond, cupped his hands, and scooped water towards his lips.

  It tasted perfect. Crisp and clean. No odor or aftertaste. Pure, spring fed goodness. A smile curled on Walker’s lips. They had an endless supply of water, shelter from the sun, and there were beasts to hunt. He felt like he could survive on this planet for as long as necessary. Years, if need be. It was like a huge weight was lifted.

  Walker and Bailey drank their fill. But there was something in the water that had plans of its own. A massive tentacle slipped quietly out of the water. Walker and Bailey were too preoccupied to notice. The tentacle slithered and coiled, then lunged for Walker. It wrapped around his forearm. Another snared his leg.

  The tentacles jerked him into the water with a splash, pulling him under. Water rushed into his lungs. He hacked and coughed, and that only let more water in. Walker struggled. Bubbles rushed to the surface amid the commotion. More tentacles restrained him, pulling him closer to the hideous amphibian. A giant, squid like creature with black eyes and a mouth like a meat grinder.

  Walker struggled, his lungs burning from lack of oxygen. The horrid leviathan pulled him deeper. He could hear the muffled barks of Bailey at the surface. He hoped the little guy would be smart and run. This creature had plenty of tentacles. Nothing near the surface of the water was safe.

  18

  THE DECLUVIANS

  “You cannot make me marry a Saarkturian,” the princess said. “I won’t do it.”

  She was like any other teenage girl, except she was blue and orange and had black spots. And her father was Emperor Tyvelon.

  The two argued on the terrace of her chamber in the Royal Palace. It overlooked the muggy swamp city of Bhodulaa. The sounds of the swamp insects filled the night air. It was as thick and tense as the conversation.

  “Kyva, you will do as I say.” Tyvelon’s face tensed. “You will sit upon the throne of Saarkturia, and ensure peace for our people.”

  “It’s repulsive that you would use me as something to bargain with. And don’t talk to me about peace when you intend to destroy the humans as part of the deal.”

  If Tyvelon had hair, he’d have pulled it out in frustration. He was ruler of the Decluvian Realm. He was feared and respected. No one dared to utter a contrary word. Except his daughter. She was the one person in the Realm he couldn’t control. “You get your politics from your mother.”

  “At least one of my parents has common sense.”

  “Watch your tongue, young lady. I’ve sent men to their death for less than that.”


  “It’s a good thing I’m not a man.”

  “You are going to marry the prince and ascend to the throne, if I have to imprison you and ship you to Saarkturia in a cage.”

  “It’s so dry there. My skin is going to flake and crack.”

  “Kyva!”

  “I have a life here. You can’t make me leave it.”

  “Is this about that boy?”

  “He has a name, father. Sivaan.”

  “Whatever.”

  “I love him.”

  “You don’t know what love is.”

  “According to mother, neither do you.”

  Tyvelon scowled at her. “I’m going to make this very simple for you. Do as I say, or life is going to get very difficult for Sivaan.”

  Kyva glared at the Emperor. “You wouldn’t dare.”

  “I’ve already had him arrested. I’ll release him when you’re in Saarkturia.”

  Kyva’s big eyes filled with tears. She beat her father’s chest. “I hate you.”

  “One day you’ll learn, a leader makes sacrifices for the good of the people.” Tyvelon marched out of her chamber.

  Kyva crumpled to the floor, sobbing.

  Tyvelon returned to his chambers and activated a 3D communication device. A few moments later, a holographic image of Rylon appeared before him in the room.

  “Emperor, it’s so great to see you. Have you given consideration to my proposal?”

  “It is acceptable to me. My daughter is enthusiastic. She will be on the Royal Transport to Saarkturia tomorrow.”

  “Excellent,” Rylon said, grinning. “Valinok is eagerly awaiting her arrival. It seems we have a deal.”

  “My legion will crush the humans. And our agreement will produce an heir to the throne of Saarkturia, unifying both our species.”

  Rylon smiled. “I look forward to the day.”

  19

  SLADE

  “Probably shouldn’t have done that,” Marlow said.

  “I’m not really known for doing what I should do,” Slade said. “I tend to follow my gut.”