Interregnum (Children of Steel Book 2) Page 10

"The gas was obviously an excuse for them to claim they were beat, that they fought to the end."

  "Why would they need that?" I asked confused. "These things have rules, once you're losing; you surrender to cut down on loss of life."

  "Yeah, but most of those troops are humans don't forget."

  I laughed, "Which is why I would expect them to want to surrender sooner, rather than later."

  "Yeah, me too. Whatever it is, someone in command must have figured it out."

  We landed and we were immediately re-tasked into an ambulance. They slung a couple of extra fuel tanks on wings, and loaded us with medical supplies as they rigged stretchers in the back. We even got two of the Astra's medic's assigned to us.

  For the next ten hours we did nothing but medevacs as a ground hospital was set up. By nightfall we had everything tied up, except for the main compound. There were still people holed up there, who refused to surrender, and the leading elements of the 2nd H.I. were slowing going building to building, dislodging the defenders.

  What made it slow going, was the order had come down to use non-lethal means to dislodge the defenders, who were at this point, all human. Normally that would have been very unpopular with everyone, but once the defenders figured it out, they also switched to non-lethal weapons as well.

  While that left all of us rather puzzled, as long as our people were no longer getting killed, we really didn't care. Corporate politics could get pretty convoluted at times; I figured someone would explain it all eventually.

  9

  It was about four a.m. when the fighting ended. As soon as the last of the defenders got marshaled off to the makeshift prison camp, they brought down every intelligence analyst, technician, and computer specialist they had, from all of the ships in orbit.

  They descended en masse onto the compound, and started combing through the buildings, the networks, the computers, and all of their archives, both computer and paper. I asked to be assigned to cover Cassandra again, and was surprised that I didn't have to ask a second time.

  "So what's this all about?" I asked her as I followed them into the main building.

  "When they took the building, the assault team reported that they were destroying records."

  "So?"

  "Why would they destroy their records?"

  I shrugged, "No idea."

  Cassandra smiled, "Exactly. So it's our job to find out, just what was so important that they had their troops to hold out, even after it was obvious that they had lost."

  "Yeah, that was kind of strange," I agreed.

  We went down into the bowels of the building, where the computer storage archives were kept. We had a few combat engineers with us, to check for traps. Power had been cut to the building, so we were using our own flashlights.

  When we got to the data vault, someone had already blown the door, and all of the servers, and other machines were dead.

  "Well, that doesn't look good," I said shining my flashlight around. Overall there was very little damage in the room.

  "No, this is excellent," Cassandra said going over the machines rather excitedly.

  "How so?"

  "Because they didn't destroy the media, and they may not have finished deleting the data they wanted destroyed. These data centers are full of redundant data backups and such to keep from losing everything.

  "See if you can find the tape vault, Hon," she said as she started checking over a couple of the racks.

  "Tape vault?"

  "That's where they store all of their backups. They're on tape cartridges about the size of tablet."

  "Tape? Like magnetic tape?" I asked surprised.

  "Yes, tape."

  "Why would anyone use tape?"

  "It's cheap and it lasts longer than anything else."

  I shrugged and started looking through the area. It was a pretty large room, and when I got to the far end, I found a line of metal closets all along the back wall. They were all unlocked, so I opened them carefully, after checking for any traps. There was nothing in any of them, except for a few cassette-like things on the floor. I picked one up and brought it to Cassandra.

  "Is this one?"

  She looked at it, and nodded smiling, "Where did you find it?"

  "In a bunch of empty cabinets in the back," I said and motioned.

  "Oh well," She sighed. "Guess we have to do this the hard way."

  "And that is?" I asked looking around.

  "We unrack each of these servers, hook it up separately, and see what's on it."

  "That sounds like it will take a while," I said looking around, there were at least a hundred of those servers in here.

  Cassandra nodded, "We'll have to pull them all and send them off to be examined, but I'll look at them first, and see what kind of shape they're in."

  "Why didn't they just blow them up?" I asked curious.

  "That would just have scattered the drives all over the place, it wouldn't have destroyed the data on them. These drives are built to last for decades; destroying the platters is incredibly difficult. It's safer to just erase them, but that takes time." She looked around the room a moment.

  "Abe!" she called and a husky stopped and looked at her.

  "Yes, Ma'am?"

  "Get some lights down here; we need to map this network before we start pulling boxes."

  "Yes, ma'am," he said and ran off.

  "Wow, he's polite," I said surprised.

  Cassandra laughed, "Yeah, well you're here."

  "Oh please, I'm not that bad!" I grumbled.

  "They do it to Shar when Balizar is around as well." She said, going back to work on the boxes.

  "If you say so." I looked around. I was getting tired, I'd been up for over twenty-four hours at this point, and with the excitement being over, I was starting to feel it.

  "I'm gonna go over there and take a nap, wake me if you leave the room, okay?"

  "Sure thing, Hon," she said, distractedly. "It's gonna be hours before I'm ready to start pulling any data."

  I nodded and found a place to stretch out, and closed my eyes.

  "Raj."

  My eyes snapped open, Cassandra was looking down at me, and the room was lit up pretty well. I sat up and rubbed my face, and checked my watch. I'd been asleep for four hours.

  "What's up?" I asked her.

  "We're heading over to the P.O.W. camp, they're going to start interviewing some of the command staff and Sharazad wants all of the analysts there when they do."

  "Why's that?" I asked curious as I got to my feet.

  "You never know what someone will come up with to ask them during an interview. If one of us thinks we see something, we'll send it to the interviewer and see what response she gets to that question."

  I nodded, it made sense I guess.

  We caught a ride over to the camp. There were patrols everywhere, as well as work crews cleaning up the mess. There was a lot of mess; it was going to take a lot of work to put this place back in business.

  When we got to the camp, they made me check my weapons, even my knife, they were very cautious about what they'd let inside, and only the guards were allowed to be armed.

  We were escorted to a room that had obviously just been set up, with a series of displays on the wall. It showed a room with a table, a chair, a ring on the table, and nothing else. Cassandra sat down near one of the monitors, all of the other analysts were already there and doing the same.

  As I watched, two guards brought a man into the room, shackled him to the ring on the table, then left the room.

  After a few minutes he pulled at the shackles, to see if they were loose, or if he could move the table, but he wasn't going anywhere. When he finally gave up after five minutes Sharazad walked into the room.

  She started to question him then, nothing terribly interesting to me; mostly it was about who he was, what he did here, his responsibilities, who worked for him, that kind of stuff. She told him that once they had gotten everyone processed, that they would
all be returned to Earth.

  Her last question was why they hadn't surrendered when they knew they had lost.

  "They promised us a thousand credit bonus for every hour we delayed you, but only if we didn't surrender," he said and shrugged, "at that kind of money, why argue?"

  Sharazad nodded and had the guards take him away.

  The next ten interviewed were the same, I went and got some food and brought it back to the room and passed it out to everyone. I noticed the guy on the screen now didn't look comfortable, and Sharazad was asking him different questions than the others.

  "What's up with him?" I asked Cassandra.

  "He's one of the supervisors here, and he doesn't want to lose his job."

  "Really?" I said surprised. "Have her offer to throw him in with the ani's and see what he says." I joked.

  Cassandra typed something in on her keyboard and I noticed Sharazad look at the small tablet she had.

  "I was joking," I sighed.

  "It's a good question. Let's see what happens." Cassandra said not looking away from the screen.

  "Would you like to be moved in with the animen prisoners, Mister Scott?" I heard Sharazad ask him on the speakers attached to the display.

  He looked surprised for a moment, but then actually smiled, "Actually, I'd prefer it, Ma'am," he replied.

  "Don't like your fellow human's, Mister Scott?"

  He shrugged, "Most of them are okay, but there are a few I'll be happy never to see again."

  "Oh?" She pulled out a pad and pencil and set it on the table. "List them please."

  He looked at the pad, and then looked at her. "I do this, and you hire me, understand?"

  "Why would we do that?" Sharazad asked looking at him curiously.

  "If they find out I fingered them, I'm a dead man. And they're probably going to guess just who gave them up, especially when I don't show up on Earth. You want names, I want a job. Deal?"

  "Deal."

  We watched as he picked up the pad and pencil and started listing names. He looked like quite a list. When he finished Sharazad directed he be put in with the Animen prisoners.

  "Oh, what do I tell them?" he asked as the started to lead him out of the room.

  "About what?" she asked, obviously curious.

  "Well, they were promised their debts would be halved if they didn't surrender, and from the sounds of it, none did."

  Sharazad looked surprised, "These men," she tapped the list, "promised that?"

  Mr. Scott grimaced, "Makes you wonder, doesn't it?"

  She tapped the table a moment. "If we can find proof of the offer, we will honor it."

  "Thanks!" he smiled and they led him out of the room.

  "Good question, Cassy," Sharazad said looking up at one of the cameras. "Let's break for a few minutes. I want him well clear of the building before we start in on this little list of his."

  She left the room then and we all stretched.

  "Where is that room anyway?" I asked.

  "On the other side of this wall," one of the analysts said tapping it. "Just go around the hallway and look for the room with the two guards outside it when someone is being questioned."

  "What are they going to do with the workers here?" I asked looking around the room.

  "Most of the humans will all be ferried back to Earth over the next six months. Well except for any we find like that last guy who wants to stay, and any of the union workers who don't want to leave. We have to honor any union contracts that are in place, unless we can prove they were involved in the fighting against us.

  "As for the ani's? They're all working for us now, so they'll just go back to their old jobs here, just with better pay and a chance for advancement."

  I nodded, and took a short bathroom break as the others all did the same.

  When we got back and we all were seated in the room, they brought the first guy on the list in.

  I wasn't paying much attention at that point; I was looking at my own tablet and working on my report of yesterday's events. So I didn't notice the growling until it started to get loud.

  I looked up at the screen and nothing strange seemed to be going on, I looked around the room and noticed everyone was looking at me. I looked over and then realized they weren't looking at me, they were looking at Cassandra.

  "Cassy?" I said and reached over to touch her and she jumped out of her chair like a shot and ran out of the room.

  I blinked surprised a moment, then dropped the tablet and took off after her.

  I saw her tail whip around the corner and I followed. By the time I got to the next hallway over, there were two very shocked guards and an open door between them. I heard a howl of outrage, a blood curdling scream, and Sharazad yelling "STOP!"

  I knocked both of the guards out of my way and Cassandra was laying into him with her claws and screaming in outrage. Sharazad had one of her feet and was trying to pull her off, but she wasn't getting anywhere.

  I dove on top of her and wrapped my arms around her, pinning hers to her body. Cassandra isn't a big female, she's maybe five foot six, and has the kind of body that makes most males, feline and otherwise, stop and take a second look. So she doesn't have a lot of muscle compared to most fighters, and especially not me.

  I almost couldn't pull her off; she seemed stronger than Chief Shandour at that moment.

  When I got her off, I rolled onto my back on the table and scissor-locked her legs with mine. She was bucking and fighting, trying to get free, she was worse than Josu had been.

  "Cassy, stop!" I whispered in her ear.

  She kept growling.

  "Cassy, STOP!" I growled again, and gave her ear a nip.

  She stopped so suddenly that I had to release my grip so I didn't hurt her. She turned and buried her face in my chest and started to cry.

  I looked over at the guy in the chair. She'd scalped him, his face was cut up pretty good, and so was his arms and chest, from trying to fend her off I guess. He was a bloody mess.

  "Fucking Animals!" he screamed.

  I couldn't help it, he was right there, so I kicked him in the face, bouncing his head off the wall and knocking him unconscious.

  "Raj!" Sharazad yelled at me.

  I looked at her, "Hey, if Cassy attacked him, he deserved it!" I put my arms around Cassandra and carefully got off the table and onto my feet.

  "I need to..." Sharazad started and then her eyes met mine and she stopped.

  "Need to what?"

  "Outside, now!" She growled and pointed.

  I carried Cassandra, who was still crying rather hard, out of the room and Sharazad pushed me further down the hallway.

  I stopped and looked at Sharazad, she looked pissed, in fact, I don't think I'd ever seen her look so mad before.

  "Did you have to kick him?" she growled.

  "Yes," I growled back.

  "Well at least we know he's important now," she sighed, as two medics ran by and went into the interrogation room.

  "Take her out of here, find out what happened, and find me."

  "What about the tape?" I growled.

  "I'm not stupid, we don't tape these things. Now get out of here and take care of Cassy. I'll deal with this mess."

  I nodded and picked Cassandra up in my arms and carried her outside. No one stopped us, and I told the guards I'd be back later for my weapons. I headed for one of the hills outside the compound, and took my time walking up it. Cassandra stopped sobbing as I walked, but she didn't say anything, she just held on and was quiet.

  When we got to the top I set her down on her feet and got down on a knee in front of her, and taking her face in my hands I looked into her eyes.

  "Tell me what happened. Tell me all of it."

  "He, he was one of them."

  "One of whom?"

  "One of the men who held us. We were held captive and forced to work at digging out a base and building it."

  I looked around, "Here?"

  She shook her head, "No, I
don't know where, in space, on a moon I think. I only saw him and some of the others in charge, the people with us; they were captured like I was."

  "What did he do?"

  "You know how I told you about their little lottery? The one where they would kill one of us?"

  "He was one of them, wasn't he?" I said.

  "He was the one in charge of the guards," She growled, "but it gets worse."

  "He raped you? Tortured you?" I said softly, preparing for the worst.

  "Worse than that, Raj," she said and looked down at the ground.

  "What could be worse than that?" I asked, and as soon as I said it, wished I hadn't. But I had to know.

  "Remember how I said they told us they didn't have enough food?"

  I nodded.

  "We ate them, Hon. They skinned them, and butchered them like animals, and then they made us eat them!" She started to cry again.

  I stood back up and growled, pulling her against me.

  "They forced us to do the one thing we all fear the most. They made us eat each other!" She looked up at me. "Do you have any idea what the others would think if they knew about this? What they would think of me?"

  "That's why you were so antsy back at the mining colony."

  She nodded, "It made me remember what I did, what they made me do."

  "I told you before, Hon, you were a victim. You had to do these things to survive, you weren't given a choice. It's just not your fault!"

  "Yes, it is! I shouldn't have done it! I should have refused!" She cried.

  "If you had done that, you'd be dead!"

  "So?"

  "So? So what about me! What about us! I told you before, Cassy, I don't care what you did, or why you did it. You're alive, we're together, you didn't do it because you wanted to, you did it because you were forced to!"

  "Well, it sucks!" She growled.

  "Yeah, but at least you have an excuse," I growled back at her, shocking her a moment.

  "What's that supposed to mean?" She said eyeing me.

  "I wasn't forced to do any of the things I did. I did them because I was angry, I was full of hate. You had to do terrible things to survive, but you were forced into it. I did those things because I enjoyed them. No one held a gun to my head.

  "So when you have your nightmares you can wake up knowing your soul is clean because you were forced. I can't make that claim, Cassy."