Chapter 67: Prison Blues

Location: Magicon Empire; Axtendus Duchy; Axtul System; Prison Station

This is not going to plan at all! After I was roughly cuffed by Lieutenant Larsson, they took away my AI chip with S-57 and somehow blocked my holographic interface. Next, they escorted me out of the room, where all the other members of my crew were being cuffed as well. Almost 20 soldiers swarmed the room and escorted us out afterward.

I try to reason with Lieutenant Larsson again, but he doesn't care. As this doesn't help, I get angry, and swear bloody vengance once all that mess is cleared. He still doesn't seem to care and laughs it off.

Just you wait, you... We always meet twice in life. Let's see who sits at the longer lever then. My name IS Sara Valterion, that’s proven without a doubt, I just didn't advertise it to make his life easier. And that idiot knifes me in the back like that? Yeah, I won't feel pity once someone from the Valterion family rips him a new one!

Unfortunately, this is all future thinking, as the present has us all carried into a shuttle, and no one cares how much we struggle.

A few hours later, the shuttle arrived at another space station. From the few glances I could make through the windows, this station is even more heavily armed than the customs station earlier. My guess that this was the prison was confirmed shortly after. The soldiers ordered us to step out of the shuttle and another squad of soldiers in different uniforms welcomed us to the Axtul Detention Center.

So here we are now, separated by genders in two different wings, wearing dull grey prison clothes. I share a cell with Lydia, and she doesn’t look happy at all. “Well, shit,” she says, and I don’t even correct her swearing this time as she is completely right.

“Yeah… Not how I planned to arrive here at all. I hope we get cleared soon. I mean they should notice that we aren’t spies, right? Maybe I can convince them to let me talk to someone of the Valterion family…”

“Yeah, right, did they take your blood as well?”

“They did, but when I asked if they were going to use it as proof of my identity, the idiot of a doctor just laughed… He said it goes into my prisoner file and maybe just maybe someone is so bored that they check it. Apparently, the medical facility is understaffed. Why doesn't anybody listen here?”

“Shit,” Lydia says again, and I drop down on my bed. At least it’s relatively comfortable. It’s just two days. At least I hope so, as then is our court hearing. Some soldiers mentioned in passing that someone from the Valterion embassy here in the system might attend. I can’t do anything else besides placing my hopes on that. Once I speak to them, everything should be good, and I can only imagine Lieutenant Larsson's face then.

On the plus side, the soldiers removed our cuffs, so we can move around freely in our cell. The problem is, that the whole prison is magically blocked, so I can’t use a single bit of my magic. In the end, we both sit on our beds and talk. A while later, two tablets of food are shoved through an opening in the door and we eat in silence. Later, we just lay down to sleep.

The next morning comes with an announcement after breakfast. We are allowed to meet the others in the common room for the next four hours!

When the time comes, we are escorted by two of the prison guards, yeah, that’s how the soldiers with the other uniform are called apparently. They don’t talk to us and after a five-minute walk, we enter a huge open room. There are quite a lot of people inside, but I immediately notice the tall figures of Simon and Thomas. After the guards give us the okay, we quickly walk over to them.

Over the next five minutes, the others arrive in pairs as well until we are ten people. All alarm bells in my head start ringing. Maja is missing!

“Has anyone seen Maja?” I ask around, but everyone shakes their heads.

“She’s missing since the blood test,” Greg says, and my blood runs cold.

They noticed her artificial body! Shit, shit, shit! What are we going to do now? Another surge of anger floods me, and I rush toward one of the guards next to a door. In hindsight, not that good of an idea, as he immediately starts to lift his gun.

My brain resets, I'm able to think clearly again and slow down while lifting my hands. I approach the guard slowly.

“What is it?” He asks in a deep voice, and I blurt out.

“Our friend is missing! What have you done with Maja?”

He frowns. “I’ve done nothing… Let me check in, maybe she fell sick? Normally everyone is allowed to go to the common space twice a day. We’re not monsters after all.”

Yeah, yeah, not monsters... They just don't listen to reason... He taps a few things on his interface, then mumbles under his breath. Two minutes later, he cancels his call and looks back at me. “First of all, she’s fine. But during the medical inspection, we learned of her special nature. Are you aware of that?”

I let out a long breath. “Yes, I am. Where is she?”

“Okay, that makes things easier. You are aware of the reasons why we took away your AI?”

“Not really, I mean my magic is blocked… I can’t teleport away either way.”

Now he dares to laugh! “Hah, no it’s not because we are afraid that you might jump away. It’s because an AI is basically a high-performance computer, and the station, like every other station too, runs on computer systems. You see the issue?”

This time I nod. Yeah, AIs could hack the prison. Especially Maja. “Good, now your friend is a special case. AIs with their own bodies are not common at all, so we had to improvise, and she ended up in our maximum-security cell without any electronic devices around her. I’m sorry, this was the best we could do… We tried to make her stay as comfortable as possible though.”

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Maximum security… That doesn’t sound comfortable at all. I grit my teeth. “Fine, can I talk to her?”

He shakes his head. “Unfortunately not. But you can write her a message and I can give you her reply in the afternoon if you want.”

Guess this is the best I can get… I nod slowly and he tells me he gets me pen and paper with my lunch. Then I return to the others and give them the news. They react quite differently. Alex and Jack, who know her the longest are very angry, but Thomas just shrugs, still believing in the system. “Guess that’s the best they could do. Don’t worry, Sari. Everything will be fine,” he says with a comforting voice and somehow, I believe him. How can Thomas keep so calm?

Unfortunately, our quiet time ends soon after when a group of people makes their way over to us. The muscled woman in the front with dark skin and very short hair sneers at us. “We’ve heard you’ve got a Valterion with you…” She looks directly at me, and I gulp.

Does it ever stop?

Shay steps forward and faces the woman directly. The others, a mixture of other quite strong-looking men and women form a half circle around them. “Piss off,” Shay starts, but gets interrupted immediately.

“Shut it, watchdog. I’m not talking to you,” she still looks right at me, and I sigh.

“What do you want…?” I ask with an angry voice.

“There she is! Our resident Valterion! And she's got some bite... Good!” She says mockingly and the others around her chuckle. “Tell me, what makes you think that you are better than us?”

What the hell? Sure, I’m better than them, I’m not a criminal after all, but what is her problem? I look at her in confusion. “I still don’t know what you want from me?”

“You are a problem! Nobles, if fake or not, bring unwanted attention to this place. You’re going to ruin my business… That’s why we’re here to teach you a lesson and get payment as reimbursement.”

After that last sentence, she waves her hand, and everyone charges us.

Oh shit!

Shay is the only one who holds her own for a while till she gets overwhelmed by four heavyset men. The others including me, try to flee, but they catch up to us pretty quickly and the fists fly. Shay’s basic self-defense training helps a little and I think I broke at least one nose. But in the end, it was all for nothing. I barely notice the guards rushing in, before I fall unconscious.

When I wake up, I’m somewhere different and everything hurts. “Urghh,” I groan when I open my eyes. The light is so bright.

A hand touches my shoulder. “Easy there,” a female voice says. “They did quite a number to you and your friends.”

I blink a few times and finally, a blonde nurse comes into focus. “Where am I? What happened?”

“You were beaten unconscious by your fellow inmates. I’m sorry this happened. You’re currently in the Station’s hospital. Your friends are all relatively fine as well.”

Suddenly, everything comes back. The sneering woman, het hate against me and her gang. Then the pain and the beat up. I groan again at the memory. The nurse looks at me in concern. “Are you okay? I can give you another dose of painkiller if you want?”

I shake my head. Even that movement hurts. But I don’t want to feel too numb either. “No, I’m good. Can I see the others?”

“Unfortunately not. The Doc ordered you all to stay in bed for at least a day. They did hit you quite hard…”

I sigh. But what can I do? I don’t know if I can stand up right now anyway… Those fuckers, what was their problem? They just attacked us without any provocation. I can’t believe their argument with me being or apparently posing as a Valterion justifies something like this. And what business of them am I ruining? We're in prison after all...

The nurse takes a last look at me, then says her goodbyes, and leaves to check on the other patients. Probably on my friends and crew. I lean back on my pillow and close my eyes again. What a shitshow… The Empire gets worse every second. And here I thought, everything will be good once we arrive here.

I must have dozed off, cause the next time I open my eyes, a tablet with food stands on the nightstand. My stomach growls audibly at the sight of it. With a shrug, I try to reach out and grab a bite. Just to notice that one of my arms is cuffed to the bed… Ah, come on… Like I’m going to escape in my condition. Then I notice the missing bracelet that should be on that arm. They didn’t take it away when I entered the prison, but now it’s gone! Where is it? I look around frantically until my gaze lands on the nightstand. Pfew, there it is. Right next to the tablet. I thought I lost it… I guess I leave it there for now. Not that I can put it on with only one arm anyway. I somehow manage to balance the tablet over to my lap, and begin to eat. At least it tastes good, even if it's just a basic bread with cheese.

The next morning begins just like the last day ended. I wake up with a tablet of food and dig in. The nurse comes by a bit later and asks if I’m alright. When I give her a weak thumbs-up, she chuckles and leaves a short while later. At least she had some news from my friends. They all look remarkably better this morning and a few of them are free to leave around noon. Well free to leave for their cells, but at least they are out of the hospital. She even had a written message from Maja for me. That brought a smile to my face, and I thanked her.

Flipping open the paper, I sigh in relief. Maja is fine. What the guard told me was mostly right. She is just kept away from any digital systems. How do I know it is really from Maja? Well, annoyingly, she hid the name “Nelson” in the text…

The rest of the morning passes without anything else of notice, and lunch goes by as well. Right after, my door suddenly opens and Jack, Ronja, Greg, and Simon enter the room. There is the one or other black eye on their faces, but otherwise, they look fine. “Hey Sara,” Jack greets me, and I wave at him.

“Hey yourself. Are you being released from the hospital?” They all nod, and we talk for another minute. Mostly about what happened, and they tell me that the others are okay as well. Then a guard behind them clears her throat and they have to leave again. “I’ll see you soon,” I call after them. I hope I’m allowed to leave as well soon. Tomorrow is the court hearing after all. I don’t want it delayed, or worse held without me!

Another hour passes without anything happening until suddenly my Space Sense goes crazy, despite the blocked magic inside the prison. I sit up straight, looking around for any sources, but I don’t find anything. Something still feels off, but I can't explain it. I’m about to call the nurse and ask her if something is wrong when it happens.

A Massive amount of magic is released outside the station. My Space Sense tells me, that something appeared there. Probably a ship. Red lights start blinking everywhere and a force field flickers into place at the door. It seems the station has gone into lockdown…

An announcement from a hidden speaker confirms my thoughts. The prison is on red alert, everyone has to return to their cells immediately. The hospital is in lockdown as well, but I obviously can’t return to my cell right now, hence the force field at my door.

I hear guards running up and down the hallway, but no one enters my room. Something in the magic I felt before feels strange… I can’t explain it… It’s I don’t know… The closest approximation I think is somehow familiar. But how? And why? That’s not possible.

Another flash of power. This time inside the station. Someone jumped in here. Right into the anti-magic zone! How? Why aren’t they affected? Or are they just too strong? I just can’t wrap my head around what’s happening, and the strange feeling gets even stronger. I’m almost certain now that it’s familiarity, I feel. This is just crazy.

Still in my thoughts, I miss the third flash of power and almost jump out of my skin when there is suddenly a purple flash at the foot of my bed! Holy shit!

A woman in her thirties stands before me. With her strawberry-blonde hair and piercing green eyes, she would look even younger if it weren’t for the few worry lines around her eyes. The woman stares at me and I stare back. There’s definitely familiarity in the magic she radiates. And boy does she radiate a lot of magic power. It’s like staring into a sun, just in a magical way. And there is still the fact that all magic should be blocked. The thought comes to my mind at the same time as the only possible solution: Archmage!!!

I start to panic a little when the woman just stands there and stares. It feels like she takes in every strand of my hair, every bruise on my face, every single freckle… She just keeps staring. Then her gaze slips to the nightstand where my bracelet is still lying. Suddenly her eyes go wide, and a single tear runs down her left cheek. “Sara,” she breathes silently.