Duval Dirtbag
The Stray
Chapter 45 - Justice Doesn’t Mean Revenge (Fried)
Once Michael’s shift was over, he rushed off the spaceport to Joph’rena’s office. He burst through the door. “Why am I wasting my time?” He hadn’t been into her official office more than a time or two. She had all the gadgets and gizmos that the Shil’vati had to offer all on display. Handheld Omnipads were piled on one side of her L-shaped desk arrangement. She was facing the desk that was aligned perpendicularly to the door. There was what appeared to be a computer monitor, which Michael was sure would just be called a ‘Stationary Omnipad’ or some such nonsense. He hadn’t taken the time to take in the surrounding walls and file cabinet-looking things.
”Wasting your time?” Joph’rena asked without looking away from what she was doing at her desk.
”Yeah? Up there. I got all hyped about being in space.” Michael said with more than a tinge of sarcasm. His tone shifted from sarcasm to attack mode. “I’m coming to realize that being in space was a whole lot of nothing.”
Nonplussed, Joph’rena replied. ”Nothing you say?”
”I’m just looking at rocks.” Michael jabbed again. This time, he started to look around a little more. Unlike his office, which had had the standard purple on purple monotony; Joph’rena’s office seemed to have a significant increase in gold. Gold trimmed the angles where he knew that there was a projector. Gold trimmed the panel behind the desk where he now knew that buttons and switches for various projections and perhaps where hidden panels could be opened and closed.
”And wasting your time?” Jophrena asked, this time she turned from her desk to look at Michael. Her calm demeanor said to him that she had been anticipating this conflict.
”Yeah.” Michael’s resolve waivered as he felt Joph’rena slip her invisible tendrils around him. He had walked right into her trap.
Calmly, Joph’rena beamed. ”Oh well, let me tell you the good news.” Michael frowned at that. ”You’ve searched over sixty percent of the asteroid belt.”
”Meaning?”
Joph’rena placed her elbows on the desk between them and cupped her face in her hands. ”Meaning you’ve only got forty percent left.”
Michael recoiled in frustration. He swooped his arms back down, ”Fuck your forty percent left.”
”You know Michael, if we’re getting serious about your role in the Imperium, you need to learn to not talk that way to a superior officer.” Joph’rena’s stern smile made Michael’s skin crawl.
Not likely, Michael thought. ”I’m a citizen. Not a soldier. I’m here doing your busy work. Who said anything about being in your military?”
”You live on our base. You work with our people. We pay you. We have provided a means for your survival and enjoyment.” Joph’rena leered at him. His disappointed reaction was enough for her to follow that comment up with, “Though I hear there’s trouble in paradise.”
”You heard about that, huh?” Michael groaned. “Cameras in the barracks? Hidden microphones?”
”No, it sure looks like Linnet has her paws on somebody else.” Joph’rena reckoned that that would come as a surprise to Michael. Michael tried not to look bothered. ”Here Michael let me say out loud what your face just said: already?” Michael pursed his lips. Still not saying anything. Joph’rena straightened her expression. ”What a dirtbag, huh?”
Michael slunk down in the chair across from Joph’rena’s desk. His face red with anger and sadness and jealousy. Joph’rena twisted her tusk, basking in delight at how she’d maneuvered her little puppet. ”Come now, don’t start tearing up. What’ll the other officers think if they see you crying?”
”Fuck do I care?” Michael sniped.
Joph’rena stood up from her desk. She walked around and sat down on it. She leaned toward Michael but did so in less of a looming way and more in a motherly, getting-to-his-level way; quietly, she asked. ”Do you care about finding the Aurors?”
Michael tearfully mewled, ”Yes”.
Joph’rena leaned in a little closer. ”Do you care about seeing them brought to justice?”
Michael nodded shakily.
Joph’rena had kept her hands deliberately away from him as she had leaned. Now she put her hands on her knees. ”Do you want to get Finley and Rachel and give them what they deserve?”
Michael looked up at Joph’rena, a tear flew out at the sudden shift of his eyes. ”What? What they deserve? What do you mean?”
Stolen story; please report.
Joph’rena clucked her tongue. ”Oh? You are different.”
Michael sniffled. ”Different like I don’t thirst for revenge?”
”Different like most of your people think that justice and revenge are synonymous.” Joph’rena twisted at her tusk. “Interesting.”
Michael visibly seethed.
”Anger is good. So,” Joph’rena slapped her desk, “you wanna be a good guy and bring the bad guys to justice?”
Michael nearly growled. ”Justice doesn’t mean revenge.”
”Whatever.” Joph’rena shrugged. “Ya wanna?”
Michael wiped his tears with his shirtsleeves. ”Ok.”
***
After a few Omnipad swipes and verbal commands, Michael and Joph’rena were on another ship, which was flanked by two other ships. Off they headed to Daytona Beach.
Michael’s stomach turned as they flew with a purpose. This wasn’t the run of the mill trip out to space which would shake until they’d left the atmosphere. This was attack mode. The air crackled at the speeds they were going. This would defeat any kind of stealth, but they weren’t going for stealth. They were going for shock and awe. They were going to show rebels who they were rebelling against.
The pilot seemed to be struggling with the controls more than usual. Michael heard them say something about the prevailing winds being against them as they headed south. Yeah, these Shil’vati bricks aren’t exactly “aerodynamic”. He chuckled quietly to himself. Anything to distract himself from his anxiety for what was to come.
Michael didn’t know exactly where he was going, but he wasn’t altogether surprised when they landed in the parking lot of the VFW. They landed and spread out in four groups of three, covering every side of the building. Michael stayed behind at the ship’s hatch.
Joph’rena led the assault at the front door. She wore the white rhinestoned armor that Michael had designed, sans the helmet. The rest of the squad had their helmets; their armor shone conspicuously in the sun. Michael considered, for the first time, that this armor design wouldn’t do well as camouflage. He had only considered the armor as a defense against lasers, that this disco ball design would reflect the light directed at the wearer away from them. Lasers, in Michael’s experience, were the main weapon in the Shil’vati arsenal. He’d seen them only once, with deadly effect against Amber and Rachel. He thought of Rachel’s prosthetic arm. He remembered seeing through Amber’s head to the bookshelf behind her in the makeshift former schoolhouse/hideout for the rebels when he’d first gotten into this Shil’vati rebel mess.
Joph’rena clicked a toggle on her neck near her voice box. Her voice then bellowed from all three ships. “Come on out, Bill, we know you’re in there!”
Bill's voice was muffled. It was obvious it was Old Man Bill, but Michael couldn’t make out what he’d said.
“Sorry, I couldn’t make out what you said.” Joph’rena said, then directed a squad mate to the door. They lifted up a ballistic weapon of some kind and fired. A grenade was launched at the front door of the VFW. It exploded with the sound of shattered glass and suddenly bending metal. When the debris had settled, Joph’rena asked, “Come again?”
Through a cough, Bill shouted in reply, “I said, ‘Up yours!’” From the smoking hole that was the front door of the VFW, thunking sounds followed by a whooshing of smoke out of the door led Joph’rena and her crew to leap backwards and hope for safety. The replying grenade exploded in the parking lot, carving a chunk out of the pavement.
Joph’rena clicked her throat again and spoke another command. This time, it didn’t come through the ships. Michael saw, instead, that it went to the squads on the opposite sides of the building. He also saw that there were two drones that had emerged from the flanking ships. It made sense to him that the Shil’vati were, at the very least, making sure that the squads on either side of the building who couldn’t see where the other were standing, didn’t accidentally shoot each other with lasers. It could be that the drones could see more strategic targets, but that was more bandwidth than Michael had at the moment.
Then Michael saw the Marines fire burning purple to red laser lights on either side of the building which ultimately created holes in both. Audible chaos ensued inside the building. Through the plate-sized holes, Michael could hear screams: screams of injury, screams of surprise, screams of disorganization. The least of which was the sound of a table falling over from missing one of its legs. Bullets plinked to the floor.
Joph’rena and her squad had returned to formation by this time. The smoke at the front door of the VFW had cleared. Bullets started flying in their direction from the hole where the front door used to be. They bounced harmlessly off of their armor. She chuckled mirthlessly as she clicked at the device at her throat. Her voice rang from the ships. “You know this primitive weaponry is useless against us.”
As the bullets poured, there was also a small beam of light developing from the hole in the building. Joph’rena squinted and followed its line to the soldier beside her. For a moment, its reflection off of the other soldier’s shoulder armor dazzled her. Then it was too late.
Joph’rena was standing too close to her squad mate without a helmet. The laser dissipated off of their armor and reflected onto her face. It didn’t have the effect of a direct hit. Instead it flash fried the right side of her face. She screamed in pain into the microphone; the sound blasted deafeningly from the ships. The windows of the VFW and every other building within five hundred feet erupted.
“Get the three targets, kill the rest.” Joph’rena rasped to her squad mates.
“I’m sorry boss, I didn’t know.” The soldier whose armor had caused Joph’rena to be maimed apologized.
“Get them!” Joph’rena yelled in reply.
The soldier relayed the instructions to the other squads through her own throat device. The drones and soldiers rammed their way into the VFW through doors and glassless windows. Michael heard bodies drop. Soon enough, Old Bill, Tex and Jack were being forced bodily out of the building.
Joph’rena walked toward the hatch where Michael stood dumbfounded. She never broke eye contact with him as she approached. The rightmost hemisphere of her hair was singed away. Her skin was shiny pink with a general ooze of dark blue blood.
Michael was frightened. He had just been guilted to tears by this woman for all that the Shil’vati had given him that he didn’t appreciate. The one thing he’d given them, his laser-proof armor, had just cooked his benefactor.
Joph’rena didn’t even break eye contact with Michael when she spat her favorite tusk out of her mouth into her hand.