NOT PEACE BUT A SWORD – ACT I

 

Treason doth never prosper; what’s the reason?

For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.

 

                                    --Sir John Harrington

 

            “What is this place?” Yoko asked as they entered the small room. 

            “My dojo,” Cho answered.  “My sanctum.  Where I come to meditate and practice.  I kept it secret in case I needed a place to lay low,” Cho shrugged.  “Kinda like now, I guess…”

            Yoko looked around.  This was hardly the stark candlelit room you would expect a sorcerer to hone their craft in.  It was dirty and cluttered, filled with bean bag chairs, empty munchie bags and overflowing ashtrays.  The walls were covered with neon posters glowing eerily in blacklights hung overhead. The room stank of stale incense and marijuana.  The Grateful Dead played quietly in the background.  The only hint this was the secret chamber of a mighty wu jen were the dozens of herbs, crystals, and other unidentifiable things scattered around the room – powerful spell components.  Yoko saw a jug of dark red liquid she pretended wasn’t blood.

            “Cool,” Yoko muttered.  “Got a ‘net connection?”

            “Yeah, in the corner,” Cho answered, assuming the full lotus position on the filthy carpet.

“We gotta get the rest of the coven together - Usha, Nhut, and Hung.  Any idea where they are?”

            “Well, Nhut’s probably at the Mitsu Shobai like always, bragging about his latest robbery to whoever will listen,” Yoko rolled her eyes.  “Hung’s working a hit – only Buddha knows where he is or when he’ll be back!  And Usha… uh, well… they sent her back to the Hello Kitty Club.”

            “Ouch!” Cho winced.  “That’s gotta suck!  I guess we’ll go after Nhut first, then…”  Cho closed her eyes and prepared to meditate.  “Now, how can I convince Nhut to join us?” Cho muttered to herself.  “What does he want?”

            “Besides a girlfriend, you mean?”  Yoko said with a chuckle.

            Cho’s eyes snapped open.  “What did you say?”

            “Oh, he’s got horrible luck with women!  Didn’t you know?” Yoko giggled, “But he never stops trying, poor boy!  He-“ she stopped suddenly.  “Wait... Cho… you’re not thinking…”

            But Cho wasn’t listening.  Her mind was racing.  Her sister Shoko was a geisha… and Cho had learned a few tricks from her… but it couldn’t be that simple…

            Could it?

 

             “Compliments of the lady again, sir.” The Mitsu Shobai waitress said as she placed a drink on table in front of Nhut Moon. 

“Another one?” Nhut asked in disbelief, flicking shoulder-length black hair out of his face.  He quickly gulped down the last of his third Kamikaze and reached for the fourth.

“Nhut,” his friend Hau said over his own drink, “whoever this chick is, she’s clearly trying to get you drunk and take advantage of you!”

“And that’s a problem?” Nhut asked with a grin.

“What if she’s all fat and greasy?”

“Who sent it?” Nhut asked the waitress.  “Can you point her out?”

The waitress looked around for a long time, but couldn’t seem to find the mystery woman.

“Just like the last two times!” scoffed Hau.  “Nhut, this chick doesn’t want to be seen unless you got beer goggles on.  Doesn’t that tell you something?  Fat and greasy, I tell ya…”

“Well, what does she look like?” Nhut asked the waitress.

“Well… she’s han,” began the waitress, “and tall… and thin… I don’t really remember much more than that,” she shrugged.  “Must be pretty plain, I guess… oh, and she told me to give you this!”  The waitress fished in her apron pocket and then handed Nhut a thin plastic card.

“What is it?” Hau asked, leaning forward.

 “A hotel room key!” Nhut grinned from ear to ear.  He flipped it over.  “Shaanxi Hotel… that’s just a few blocks away,” he turned to Hau.  “Man, I am totally getting’ laid tonight!”

“You sure, Nhut?” he warned.  “She might not be fat, but she could still be butt ugly…”

“Hey, man, a mouth’s a mouth!” Nhut shrugged, “And all women are beautiful when the lights are off!”  He chugged the rest of his drink.  “Besides, Hau. this kind of gosa never happens to me!  A chick pickin’ me up in a bar?  No way!  Might never happen again!” he laughed, scooped up the hotel key, and wobbled drunkenly to his feet.  “I’m goin’ for it, Hau… just to say I’ve done it, if nothing else.  Look out, world!” he yelled, throwing his arms in the air and staggered toward the door.  “Nhut Moon’s getting’ laid!!”

 

Nhut stumbled into the hotel room.  It was dark.  The door swung closed behind him.

“Hello?” he called, “Anyone here?”

“Nhut?” a vaguely familiar voice called out of the darkness, “you alone?”

“Umm… yeah,” he answered.  “This is a private party – isn’t it?”

“Were you followed?”

“Uh…” apprehension creept over him.  This wasn’t going the way he thought.  Instinct warned him of danger.  “Uh, no… don’t think so… why?” he asked suspiciously.

             “The yakuza can’t know I’m here,” the woman said.  Nhut could swear he knew that voice…  “And we don’t want to be interrupted… do we?”

            That could be interpreted two ways, and Nhut didn’t want to hang around long enough to find out which.  He shuffled backwards toward the door.  Nhut saw movement in the darkness, and the woman stepped out of the shadows.

He knew her, alright.

            “Cho?!  Oh gosa!” he swore as fear seized him.  He didn’t know what she wanted - but it sure as hell wasn’t sex.  He turned and groped for the doorknob in the darkness, but Cho moved fast. She leapt forward, grabbed his shirt, spun him around, and kissed him deeply.

            Nhut was too shocked to move.  He blinked.  Okaaaay… wasn’t expecting that…

            “Thank Buddha you came!” Cho whispered as she slammed him against the wall, “I wasn’t sure if I’d ever see you again!”  She kissed him again.

            “What the pi khu?” he asked when she let him up for air.  “Where did this come from??”

            “Don’t act like you didn’t know!” Cho scolded, “I’m like a golram dog in heat around you!”

            “I… uh… you are?”

            “And I’m out of the yakuza,” she said and she spun him around and pushed him down on the bed, “so I don’t have to follow their gan ni zhou rules anymore!”

            “Rules?  What rules?”  None of this made sense to Nhut.  It didn’t help that he was drunk. 

            “I want you, Nhut - I want you at least once before I die!” she said as she crawled over him.  “Don’t you want me?”

            “Well… uh… you see… uh…” There was no good answer to that question.  Nhut found it difficult to concentrate between the confusion, the alcohol, and Cho doing something quite creative with her tongue.  “I just… uh… didn’t know… bit of a shock… confused… uh…”

            “You talk too much, Nhut,”  Cho said, straddling him and nibbling on his ear.  “You’re not gonna stop me, are you?” she asked, her voice deep and husky, “Don’t you want to…?”

            “Yes!  I mean, no!  I mean… uh…”  Everything was happening too fast.  Cho wasn’t much to look at, but her aggressive seduction had succeeded in arousing him despite the surprise and confusion… and all women are beautiful in the dark, he thought.  “I mean, yeah, go ahead!”

           

            Cho had never made love before, but she did her best to fake it.  Oh, she’d had sex before, but there was never any pretense of affection.  Then a few desperate months of prostitution - just to get by - had mostly turned her off of the whole thing.  But she’d seen lovemaking in enough books and movies to do a passable imitation.  Nhut had to believe there was some emotion involved – not just a cheap thrill – if this was going to work. 

            Halfway through, Cho began to gently stoke his face, and her fingertips came to rest on the acupressure points. Slowly, subtlety, she began to gently sift through his thoughts and feeling, looking for evidence of betrayal.  Whenever he began to notice something, she would buck or bite or scratch to distract him, rolling her hips until he definitely had other things on his mind.  It didn’t take long for her to tell he wasn’t the traitor.

  It would have been easy to play with his mind at that point - a few implanted thoughts and emotions would make him her love-slave.  But the words of her ancestors - They must choose to follow you, or they will betray you – stuck in her mind.  Guess I’ll have to use my feminine wiles to keep him, she thought.  I wonder if I have any?  I guess that’s just manipulation, too… but ain’t that the core of any relationship? 

            The rest of the evening, Cho discovered, was not altogether unpleasant.  Surprisingly, Nhut turned out to be a gentle but enthusiastic lover, making up in passion what he clearly lacked in experience.  It’s been a long time for me, after all, Cho thought, and he’s not an unattractive man… why not enjoy myself?

           

            “Good?” Cho asked, resting her head on Nhut’s chest amid the sweaty sheets.  Nhut made unintelligible garbled sounds that were vaguely affirmative.  Cho couldn’t help smiling. 

            “Dust?” she offered, reaching for the pipe in her jacket.  Nhut made more affirmative sounds, more intelligible this time.  Cho packed and lit the pipe, took a deep drag, then passed it to Nhut, who clutched it weakly and sucked down a huge toke.  He exhaled slowly and looked at Cho, still wearing an expression of stunned disbelief. “So… uh… good for you too…?” he asked.

            “Hell yeah,” she answered, taking the pipe.  It’s not a complete lie, she thought, not really.

            “So… like… not that it wasn’t great an’ all,” Nhut stuttered, “but… why me?  I don’t get it.”

            Cho shrugged.  “I dunno.  You’re a good-looking guy,” she took a drag and passed the pipe back.  “And you make me laugh, I guess,” she conceded, “not to many people can do that…”

            “That’s all?” he asked, confused.  “There’s a lot of better looking guys out there…”

            “I don’t know why, Nhut!” Cho answered, uncomfortable and a little defensive.  This kind of sappy pillow-talk wasn’t really her thing. “I just do!  Can’t you just leave it at that?” 

            Apparently, Nhut couldn’t. It didn’t make sense to him, and like most yakuza he was naturally suspicious.  “Maybe I’m just clueless or something,” he said, “but I had no idea you had the hots for me.  What was it?  My irresistible charm?  Or my devilishly good looks?”

            Cho chuckled.  “Nah, it was the whole golram student-teacher thing – the oyabun wouldn’t have liked it,” Cho said, “Besides, you didn’t seem interested… so I kept it to myself.”

            “So why now?  You gotta have the worst timing in history!” he said.  “What changed?”

            Cho barked out a nasty laugh.  “What are you, retarded?  Everything’s changed!  I’ve been framed, disowned by the family, and everyone’s trying to kill me!”  Cho said as Nhut passed her the pipe. “So I figured, ‘Eh, why not?  I’ll just hit on him!  Might as well get laid one more time before I die!’  If you told me to piss off, no big deal, I’d probably never see you again.”  She paused to smoke the pipe thoughtfully.  “Actually, I’ll probably never see you again anyway.”

            “You… won’t?”  Nhut said slowly.  The opium was beginning to take effect on him.

            “Hell, Nhut, if I want to live I gotta get off-planet and stay away!  At least for a while,” Cho looked in her pipe bowl and tossed it on the bedside table.  “Cashed,” she muttered.  “I should probably get going,” she added, rolling out of bed.  “I need to stay on the move.  Yer not gonna tell anyone about this, are ya?” Cho asked, pulling her clothes on.  “I mean, that would suck for me, yeah, but you might get in trouble, too… y’know… for not killing me on sight and all that…”

            “Nah,” Nhut said, shaking his head.  “Who’d believe me?  I’m not sure if I believe me!”

            “Good point,” Cho said.  She hadn’t considered that angle.

            “So… you say you’ll be gone for a while, huh?” Nhut said. “When you get back… y’know… ya wanna…?”

            Cho stopped tying her hakimas long enough to give him a lecherous grin.  “Oh, just try to stop me!  If I were you, I’d buy stock in Trojan.” 

Nhut grinned.  “So… how long you think you’ll be gone?”

Cho shrugged.  “Dunno.  As long as it takes to clear my name.  Could be a month.  Could be a year.  Could be never.”

“Clear you name?” Nhut repeated, confused.  “Wait… you said you were framed, right?”

            “Yep.  Someone poisoned my Khymer Rouge, probably so I’d blow the hit.  I can prove that much, at least.  Yoko scanned my old bowl and found some kind of toxin in it.”

            “Wait… Yoko?”  Nhut sputtered, sitting up.  “Yoko’s helping you?  Why?”

            “Hmmm, let’s see…” Cho said sarcastically, tying her boots.  “Master wu jen or casino tech support?  You figure it out.”

            “Huh…” Nhut said thoughtfully.  Cho could see the wheels turning in his mind.  Good.  “Well, if ya got the laced bowl, Cho…  what more do you need?”

            Cho sighed.  “You know the oyabun.  He’ll want to know who spiked it, and how, and why… and I don’t know that pi hua yet.  I think yakuza-gaijin is involved, though,” she stopped to light a Nirvana.  “And the Earl of New Tokyo… he’s the one who gave me the damn spiked dust… and possibly someone inside yakuza-Tanzhi, too,” she paused to take a drag.  “So getting answers ain’t gonna be easy…. or safe.”

            “I suppose you could use some help, couldn’t you?” Nhut asked.  “Someone who can get in, get it, and get out without being seen… right?”

            Cho took a long drag off the cigarette to hide a smile.  Damn! she thought, I didn’t think it’d be this easy!  I didn’t even have to ask!  She blew out the smoke and nodded slowly.  “Hell, Nhut, I’ll take all the help I can get.  You offering?”

            “That’s what all this is about, isn’t it?” Nhut said cynically, shaking his head.  “You only fucked me to get my help… right?”

            Cho froze, caught.  He was on to her… and she’d told him way too much.  She stared at him silently, feeling alarmed and a little guilty… and something else… something she couldn’t identify, but didn’t like at all.  “Do you really think that, Nhut?” Cho finally asked him.

            “Y’know… yeah… I think I do,” he answered.

            Anger Cho couldn’t explain flared inside her.  She flung the lit cigarette at him.  “Go to hell, Nhut!” she sneered, and headed for the door.  She needed to calm down… fast…

            “Hey!  Hey, wait up!”  Nhut called out behind her, jumping out of bed.  “Cho!”  he grabbed her arm.  With a sudden violent surge of anger, Cho spun around, yanked her arm away, and shoved Nhut backwards so hard he almost fell. 

            “What!?” she yelled, “What the hell do you want now?”

            Nhut spread his arms and shook his head, confused.  “What just happened here?”

            “Nothing, apparently!” Cho snapped, “Absolutely nothing!  I shoulda known this wouldn’t work…” she muttered.  Cho yanked the door open, paused, then spun back on Nhut, pointing.  “You tell anyone about this, ji bai, I’ll deny it!” 

Cho slammed the door behind her and stormed down the hallway.  A second later the door opened behind her.  “Cho!” Nhut called.  She merely stuck her middle finger in the air and walked on.  “Cho!” Nhut called again, closer.  Is he following me? Cho wondered, and tossed a glance over her shoulder.  Nhut was stumbling down the hall completely naked except for a small pillow held over his crotch - it was so comical Cho also laughed.  Her anger faded slightly.

            “You mean to tell me,” Nhut asked, catching up with her, “that’s not why you fucked me?”

            “I fucked you because I wanted to, you selfish asshole!” Cho snapped.  That’s not completely true… but it’s not a lie, either.  “I could use your help, but I don’t need it!” she said, “Now go put some pants on before you get arrested.”

            Nhut just stared at her for a second.  “I just really screwed up, didn’t I?” he asked her.

            “You should be used to that by now, Nhut,” Cho said with a nasty laugh.  “You’re always getting yourself in bad situations.  And you usually make them worse – just like now.”

            Nhut cocked his head, confused.  “Worse?  Whadaya mean?”

            “This!” Cho snatched the pillow away, turned, and flung it down the hallway.  Behind her, Nhut yelped and sprinted back to the hotel room.  Cho lit a Nirvana as she left the hotel.  Nhut knew too much.  Her chances of getting caught had just doubled.  What the pi ku was I thinking? she thought darkly, I’m a flat-chested ugly dyke.  I’m no temptress and never will be.  Damn it…

            Cho felt a sudden craving for more dust… but it had nothing to do with addiction.

 

            Cho entered her dojo and locked the door.  Yoko looked up from her computer.

            “Oh, hi Cho!” she said cheerfully.  “Is Nhut coming?”

            “No,” Cho said, tossing her jacket in the corner.

            “Oh.  Okay,” Yoko said.  “So… did you-“

            “I don’t walk to talk about it,” Cho snapped.  She pulled out her pipe and dust, started packing it, then stopped.  No, she told herself.  I already had my dose today.  And I gotta make it last.  Almost reluctantly, she put it away and started loading pot into her hookah instead. 

            There was a knock at the door.

            Cho and Yoko exchanged surprised, worried looks.  Then Cho jumped to her feet and ran to the door, pressing her back against the wall beside it.  She closed her eyes, breathed deeply, and extended her senses in all directions.  “Just one guy,” Cho whispered.  She then tossed her pistol to Yoko, then launched into tai chi do movements and chanted, finally stopping with her hands facing the door, her fingers curled in mystical gesture.  “Friction curse,” Cho whispered to Yoko, “they won’t be able to move.  Open the door and stand back… fire if you have to.”  Yoko held the pistol as if it might bite her, and looked absolutely terrified.  “Go!” Cho hissed.  Obediently, Yoko crept to the door and placed her hand on the knob.  Then, with a nervous squeak, she flung it open and pointed the gun at the intruder with both hands.

            Nhut stood in the doorway, frozen in place.

            “What the go sch are you doing here, Nhut?” Cho asked tersely.

            “You want… my help… or what?” Nhut said with great effort.

            Cho eased the spell slightly, just enough so he could talk.  “How the pi khu did you find this place?” she demanded.

            “I followed you.  You gonna drop the spell, or what?” Nhut asked.  “I know you like a guy who’s stiff, but this is ridiculous.”

            Cho didn’t release him.  “So, you want to help me, huh?  Bullshit.  Why?” she demanded.

            “Because I want to,” Nhut said with a crooked grin, “I just do.  Can’t you just leave it at that?”  Cho glared at him silently.  She wasn’t amused.  “What, you think I’m after the bounty on your head?” he asked.  “You can mind scan me if you want.  I got no hidden agenda.”  Cho did a quick surface scan, but sensed no deception.  Slowly she released him. 

“Look…,” Nhut said awkwardly, “I’m… sorry if I pissed you off before, okay?  I just… y’know… in our line of work… everyone plays each other, an’…” Nhut stammered uncomfortably, “an’ I just find it hard to believe that anyone would… y’know, me…” Nhut sighed, “I just didn’t want to get suckered into something over a cheap thrill.  Not that it was cheap!” he added quickly, “Hell, it was the best lay of my life!”

An uncomfortable silence hung in the air.  Slowly, both of them turned to stare at Yoko.

            “Uh, y’know, I could really use some fresh air,” Yoko said nervously, heading for the door.  “I’ll be outside, and… um… I’ll be outside.”  Yoko scurried out of the room.  No one stopped her.

            “What’s your angle, Nhut?” Cho said, still suspicious, “You’re takin’ a huge risk coming here, and you got nothing to gain.  That doesn’t make any sense.”

            “Since when have I ever made sense?” Nhut laughed. 

            “You may be crazy,” Cho nodded, “but you’re not stupid.”

“Hell, you know me, Cho - I don’t steal for the loot, I steal for the thrill, for the challenge.  What you got planned sounds challenging, alright!  This is gonna be fun!”  Cho stared at him in disbelief.  Only Nhut could describe this situation as ‘fun’, she thought.  “Besides,” Nhut continued, “If it means raiding the Earl’s palace, I’m all over that like flies on hot shit.  You know a mandarin like me loves stickin’ it to the nobility!”  He thrust his hips forward.  “Oh, yeah, baby!  Do ‘em in the ass an’ make ‘em bark like a dog! Woof!”

            “So your… what?  Risking your life and future for thrills and bragging rights, huh?” Cho said skeptically.  “You can get that anywhere and you know it.  So what are you doing here?”

Nhut sighed, and the comical veneer melted away.  “I’m here,” Nhut said, shaking his head, “because no matter how big of a bitch you are, I’m still you’re friend.  I don’t think you have too many friends - I know I don’t.  We’re yakuza, Cho. We’re family.  If you really have been set up… if you really do need my help… then I’m here.  All you had to do was ask.”

            “Nice speech,” she scoffed, “Now what do you really want?”

            “What I want,” Nhust said, “if to go back a few hours and start over.  That possible?”

Cho stared at him, thinking.  Her instinct told her she could trust him.  Hell, she wanted to believe him, believe that things like honor and friendship and love actually existed… but she knew better.  She didn’t believe in trust and loyalty.  She believed in greed, fear, and force– they were far more reliable. 

But what leverage did she have in this situation?  None.  No way to bribe or trick or force him to help her.  As much as she hated the thought, if she wanted his help, she’d simply have to trust him... for now, at least.  For Cho, the idea verged on terrifying.

             “I don’t know, Nhut,” Cho said at last, shaking her head.  “We’ll have to wait and see.”

Silence hung in the air.  They stared at each other.  Neither person was comfortable talking about whatever it was that existed between them, but somehow they had managed to come to an uneasy, unspoken truce… and for now, that was enough.

 

* * *

 

“Good morning, M. Beatrix,” Weathers said formally as he entered Cynthia’s brig cell.  The guard on duty locked the thick, clear plasteel door behind the Captian and then leaned against the opposite wall, watching.  “I can only spare an hour for paranormal training today,” he said, setting down the duffel he’d carried in, “so we’ll have to make it count.”

Cynthia Beatrix sat cross-legged on a cot in a fluorescent orange prison jumpsuit, arms folded across her chest, and regarded him with a bored, annoyed expression.

“How long do you plan to keep me here?” she finally asked. “I didn’t sacrifice everything I had and risk my life just to rot in a cell, David.” she said sternly.

“Captain Weathers,” he corrected her.

“You haven’t made me part of your crew, so I don’t see why I should call you ‘captain’,” she replied in the tone of a bratty teenager.  Despite deserting the Imperial Regulators, she still bore the haughty, arrogant demeanor the privileged position had cultivated in her. “So how long are you going to keep me in here… Dave?”

“Until I can trust you,” Weathers replied irritably, “Which could be quite a while.”

Cynthia breathed the sigh of a long-suffering saint.  “I helped you destroy a ship waiting to ambush you, defected to your side, told you everything I know about the Regulators and Imperial Court politics… and still I’m not trustworthy?  Just what do I have to do, Dave?”

“Well, you can start by calling me ‘Captain’,” he answered, and watched her wince in annoyance.  “After that… well, if your information proves reliable… and useful… then, over time, we might ask you to do more and more.  You can start by telling me which Middle Kingdom communication node is the best to tap into.”

Cynthia sat up, interested.  “The Wilke’s Star media array, of course,” she answered, her superior attitude melting away.  “But you don’t need me to tell you that – it’s public information.”

“No, that’s the Kingdom’s capital system,” Weathers shook his head.  “Too risky.  It’s too well guarded.  We’d never get close enough to it.”

“For what?” Beatrix asked.  “Do you need to use it?”

“You don’t need to know that.”

Beatrix shook her head, exasperated.  “Alright then, try the Draco node.  It’s isolated and probably unguarded.”

 “Hmm…no.” Weathers said.  “That too isolated.  Anything broadcast from that could be intercepted and suppressed too quickly.”

“You need to give me more information here, Captain,” Beatrix said, slightly irritated.

“Yes, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

“Oh, for Buddha’s sake!” she exclaimed, throwing up her hands in disgust.  “How can I choose the best node without knowing anything?  At least tell me the requirements!”

David considered that.  The criteria seemed harmless enough… certainly it wouldn’t tell her anymore than she had already guessed.  “Alright,” he nodded.  “The first priority is the ability to broadcast data as quickly as possible to as many other nodes as possible.  Location and security are secondary.  So choose the best compromise between those criteria.”

“Is proximity a factor?”  Weathers nodded.  “Okay, so where’s your base?” Beatrix asked.

Weathers could help grinning.  “Come on, you know I’m not telling you that, Beatrix!”

“At least give me a general area!” she said with mounting frustration.  “Where are we now?  The New Block?  The Colonies?  The Quarantine Zone?”

Weathers narrowed his eyes.  “Somewhere like that, yeah,” he answered.  “How did you-“

“Most of your raids have been in that area,” Beatrix said absently.  “Let’s see... the Babylon and Jennifer’s Star relays are good choices… maybe Charbydis… but those are all well within Middle Kingdom territory…. I need more info,” she declared.  “Who’s your audience?  One person?  An entire planet?  What media type are you broadcasting?  Just once, or constantly?”

Weathers didn’t like being pumped for information.  Even if he was positive she had no way of contacting the Regulators – which he wasn’t – he felt safer keeping her in the dark, at least for now.  He carefully considered his answer.  “We’re transmitting all media types, from simple text to holoproj.  The audience is everyone.  And not just the Middle Kingdom – the border states, too.  New Israel.  Kalintos.  The Horadrim, K’Nes Tor, and Jurvain.  Everyone.  At least once, but possibly again later.  And no, I’m not telling you the content – period!”

            Beatrix cocked an eyebrow.  “Ambitious,” she said, then closed her eyes. “Let me think… okay, Sinkiang.  Definitely Sinkiang.”

            “Sinkiang?”  Weathers said doubtfully.

            “Sinkiang,” Beatrix repeated.  “It used to be the biggest transport, trade, and communication hub for the old Eastern Bloc.  Even though the Kingdom’s grown, it still carries a lot of traffic – more then you’d expect for obsolete technology on the edge of the empire.”

            “Alright, that makes sense,” Weathers nodded, trying not to show he was impressed.

            “You’d be insane to use it, though,” Beatrix added.  “There’s a lot of commercial and navy ships there – especially with the new blockade to the Chapman’s Folly system – someone would recognize the Dickerson, and then you’d be badly outnumbered.”

            “We won’t be using the Dickerson,” Weathers shook his head, and Beatrix looked at him quizzically.

“Not the Marm, surely… that would be suicide!”

            “We’ll use the captured destroyer,” David explained.  “It’s a Kingdom naval ship.”

“It’s also been reported either captured or destroyed,” Beatrix said doubtfully.

“There are ways around it being recognized,” Weathers countered.

“There’s only so much Footprint Magnification Systems can do, David,” Beatrix cautioned, “and you couldn’t mesmerize that many minds… not yet…”

“And that’s why you need to train me,” Weathers said, “Shall be begin?”

“You’d have a better chance if I went along to help you…?” Beatrix ventured… but Weathers only shook his head.  Beatrix sighed.  “I figured as much.  Did you bring the candles?” she asked, changing the subject.  Weathers tossed her the duffel.

Beatrix motioned for David to sit down opposite her.  She lit the two thin candles, then (after a nod to the guard from the Captain) dimmed the lights.  She lectured him on posture, proper breathing, and then led him in silent meditation.  Weathers lasted about a minute.

“Look, is all this really necessary?” he asked, “I’ve got a lot to do today-“

“No focus.”

“Excuse me?”

Beatrix opened her eyes.  “You have no focus, David.  Your current technique is like an automatic weapon – you spray the whole area to hit your target, but waste a lot of ammo in the process.  It’s inefficient and wasteful.  It’s amazing you’ve been able to do as much as you have, really…” Weathers could feel his irritation level rising.  Now wonder the frigate captain had wanted to throw her out an airlock!  “What you need,” Beatrix continued, “is to be a high-powered sniper rifle, hitting the target cleanly with a quick, single shot.  And to do that, you need -“

“Yeah, yeah, focus, I get it,” Weather said impatiently.

Beatrix stared at him evenly in silence.  “You’re free to go if I’m wasting your time, M. Weathers,” she finally said, “And I’d rather you not waste mine.”

Weathers sighed.  “No, no… continue. Please.”

“You can’t focus your mind while checking to-do list and calculating repair timetables – “

“Hey!” Weathers snapped angrily, “Stop that!  Get out of my head!”

“I was just checking to see if your mind was blank!” Beatrix held up her hands innocently.  “Which it clearly wasn’t!  If you can’t focus your thoughts on a single task, you – well, here, let me show you…”  She placed the two lit candles in a line between her and Weathers.  “I want you to blow out this candle,” Beatrix said, changing the subject again, “with your mind.”

David opened his mind and stared at the candle in front of him.  With a sudden blast of wind, he blew it out.  And the one behind it.  And knocked them both down.

“I think that demonstrated my point,” Beatrix said condescendingly as she relit the candles, “now I want you to keep trying until you can blow out the first flame without disturbing the second… and without splattering any wax.”  Weathers opened his mind and tried again.

The candles went flying.

Weathers tried again and again without success.  Beatrix watched patiently.  Eventually he was frustrated enough to try Beatrix’s damn breathing and meditation exercises - and, surprisingly, they did help.  Finally, after the floor, walls, and Cynthia were covered in splattered wax, he succeeded.  Beatrix even gave a grudging nod of approval.

“Aw, hell!” Weathers said as he checked his watch, “I’m an hour behind schedule – dammit!”  He shoved the candles back in his duffel.  “Thanks for the info and the lesson, Cynthia,” he said distractedly, “It helpled.  Both of them.”

“Dave?” Beatrix called as the guard opened the door for him.  “I’m bored to tears in here.  Any chance I could have something to read?  Just paper – nothing electronic and dangerous?”

“I… suppose so,” Weathers said.  He couldn’t see any harm in it. “Anything in particular?”

“The Bible,” Beatrix answered.

“The Bible?” Weathers said, surprised.  “Why?”

“Well, I’ve studied Confucius, Buddha, and Lao-Tzu… but even though I’m European, I’ve never read the writings of Jesus Christ!  Doesn’t that seem a little backward to you?”

“Uh… Jesus didn’t write the Bible,” Weathers told her.

“He didn’t?” she replied, genuinely surprised.  “Well, then who did?”

“It’s… complicated,” David said.  “I’ll send the chaplain down...  I’m sure he could explain it better then I could.”

 

* * *

 

“And let me tell you, Captain, you only thought you knew the score.”

James looked at the spy expectantly, “…yes?”

The man chuckled, and James asked, “What is it?  What’s funny?”

The spy looked around, “I’m not sure, to tell the truth, this stuff is hardly something to laugh at.”  He indicated the datapad that he was still turning around in his hand.  “I guess I find it funny, in a morbid way…this is going to cause a war.”

“War?”

A deep sigh.  “Yeah, turns out the plant’s being retooled to turn out drugs, human drugs.”

“I don’t get it; don’t the Horadrim all but own the entire pharmaceutical market, for both them and us?”

“Not medicine.  This is some kind of new development, I don’t pretend to understand the business, but they’re using viruses to modify the natural chemical balance of the brain, or something like that.  Anyway, it’s mind control.”

“Brainwashing…”

“Yeah, but not through propaganda, it physically alters the way you think, much more effective.”

“And they’re going to use this stuff to quell resistance to the Middle Kingdom?  Ensure the dominance of Chiang, or Rao now I guess, and the Asians, the EBs.  Yeah, I imagine Treschi won’t be too happy about that one.”

James looked across the table to find the plump man staring daggers at him, “Where did you hear that.”

“Um…”  James gulped.

“I think you’re very lucky that I’m not investigating you.  But it doesn’t matter, you’re wrong.”

“Huh?”

Another laugh, “That’s what they want you to think, or what they want to Emperor to think.”

“They?”

“They, the Horadrim, Dane.”

“I don’t follow, why would they want…”

“You’re a smart man, M. Welthammer, why would Vin Dane give a rat’s ass about a scheme like this?”

“Because he’s part of the Middle Kingdom, he—“

“Bullshit, you think either of the Ministers care about the fantasy of a half-mad old EB-er?  They’re in it for their own sake, their own power, both of them.  And I’m sorry to say it looks like Dane beat us on this one,” he snorted, “but he’s not going to get away with it, not a chance in hell.”

“So why are the Horadrim involved?”

“Why brainwash half of humanity, when you can brainwash all of it just as easily.”

James flinched slightly, then found himself staring as it dawned on him, “Oh…”

The spy set his datapad down, “Heh, don’t worry about it.”  He paused, “Now that I think about it, I could use a drink, if your earlier offer is still valid.”

James pushed himself away from the table in a daze, “Sure…”  He got up and moved to the door of the receiving room, but it opened to allow Nikola Tesla walk inside.

“Sir, you should come look at this.”

James shook his head, “I’ve got a guest, Nik.”

“We could be in trouble, sir.”

Behind James, the spy bolted to his feet, “Have they found us out?  We’ve got to transmit this data before they destroy the ship!  There’s no way they’ll let this—!“

James turned, raising his voice slightly, “M. Page, sit down.  Now, you’re a guest here, but I am the captain of this ship, whatever is going on out there, I will take care—sit down!  Please.  I’ll have cookie bring you a drink.”

The spy sat down, though he made it seem like it took a great feat of willpower.  James nodded, and he left the room with his Signals Chief.

“So what’s the problem?”

“Well, we were moving along just fine until we got about halfway to the gate.  At that time, we get an apparently routine query from system navigation.  I responded with the clearance codes we got earlier, they discommed and let us alone.  I thought that was the end of it until Frank here,” they had moved behind the Sensor officer’s display, “noticed that one of the Horadrim destroyers altered its course.”

“So?”

“Well they’re on a near-intercept path with us; computers didn’t alert us because they won’t quite make the proximity alarm.”

“How far?”

“They’ll pass just over half-a-klick from our bow in approximately fifteen minutes.”

“Maybe it’s just their routine patrol pattern, the Horadrim ships are still way beyond us, so maybe such a close pass isn’t a concern to them…”

“I find that doubtful, sir, first of all even if their navigation equipment is superb, they can’t count on ours being so; but more importantly, captain, there’s just no reason for it.  They were already in an optimal position for system defense; the new course puts them quite a distance out of their way.  It looks like an interdiction to me.”

“But why wouldn’t they comm us?  It’s not like we can evade them…”

Tesla gave a sidelong glance at the door to the receiving room.

James caught on, “Shit…alright, tell Stephen we may need to be getting out of here in a hurry,” the Signals Chief nodded and headed to the lift at a brisk walk.  James turned to his right, “Laura, hail that destroyer, ask if they realize how close they’re going to passing to us.”

The Resolve’s Comm officer began fiddling with her console, but looked up abruptly, “Sir, they’re hailing us.”

“What?  Put that through.”

She entered a command, and the insignia of the Horadrim Empire burst onto a tiny monitor, “Freighter Resolve, authorization code MKIF2271.5.18.7039, you are commanded to power down your engines to allow docking with an Istoral System Defense transport.  Repeat, power down your engines to allow docking and await further instructions.”

James was startled, “What’s the meaning of this?  I’ve got important business outside of this system, so unless you—“

“You will comply with the command to power down your engines.”

“I will not comply until you tell me what the hell this is about!”

The insignia winked out abruptly.  Laura Matheson turned in her chair, “Sir, they’ve discommed.”

That was all the warning they got.  From the corner of his eye, James saw a series of bright flashes beyond the forward viewport.  Immediately, the ship shuddered violently, and explosions could be heard coming from below and to the stern.  Tanya yelled from the pilot’s station, “We’re spinning!  Yawing, thirty degrees per second, I can’t regain control, I’ve lost engine control.”

Nik Tesla burst out of one of the maintenance hatches on the port side of the ship, his face was white with terror, “Stephen says we’ve lost the engines!  Something hit the booms, tore them clean off!  Did they…did…?”

But before James could respond, the receiving room door burst open, and Theodore the spy barged onto the deck, “They attacked us didn’t they?  Golrammit!”  He pointed directly at James, “I need to use your comm, now, this is too important not to let out, we’ve got to broadcast!”

But Laura spoke up from her communications station, “Captain, they took out the comm gear as well.”

“Sensors too!”  That was Frank Keyes.

The Senatorial Police agent looked around the cabin, helpless, “But…”  He kept opening and closing his mouth, at a complete loss for words.

“Captain, look!”

Somehow the distant Horadrim Destroyer had closed a five-hundred kilometer gap in seconds, it was now virtually on top of them.

One of the crewmen gasped, “How the…”

“Tunnel Drive.”  Both James and the spy answered at once, then exchanged a suspicious glance.

The short man turned to James, “Captain Welthammer, is this vessel armed?”

“We’ve got a 90mm Chemlaser on a turret, but that’s hardly—“

“It doesn’t matter at this point, Captain, we cannot allow this information to be suppressed, we’re going to have to fight our way out of this, I assume you people have small arms.”

“Wait a minute; we’re not going to try to fight the Horadrim, that’s suicide!”

“This data is too important!  Don’t you realize that?”

“I’m not getting my crew killed and my ship blown up for your information, no matter how important it is.”

“You don’t have a choice!”

“The hell I don’t.”  He turned to the crewmen gathering around the spectacle, “Everyone, we are to accept any Horadrim boarding party without resistance.  It’s no use fighting them, might as well let them know we’re willing to cooperate.”

The spy’s face burned red, “That’s it!  As an officer of the Senatorial Police I am hereby commandeering this ship and its crew.  All of you will arm yourselves and prepare to—“

James grabbed his pistol from its holster on his thigh and shoved it in the fat man’s face, “M. Page, this is my ship.  You have no authority here.  I welcomed you as a guest, but you may consider my courtesy expired; rest assured that should we indeed be boarded I will turn you over as soon as the hatch opens.  Someone tie this idiot up.”  Keyes and Tesla grabbed the spy’s arms as Laura Matheson grabbed some cord from a supply closet.

James returned his gun to its holster, “Fight the Horadrim, bloody insanity.  Even if we’d had a miracle and won, what would we have done?  Can’t take fly their ship, we’re dead in the water; it’d be thirty seconds before another one of their cruisers blasted us into dust.”

The spy was blubbering, “But, but, you can’t!  What about my mission, this information…”

“That is, I am glad to be able to say for once, not my problem.”

 

Five minutes later, James, his section Chiefs, and Major Shrak were waiting by the airlock the Horadrim were docking to.  Shrak was holding the whimpering Theodore Page, his arms still bound by cord.

The airlock cycled, and five Horadrim stepped onto the Resolve, they wore armor that was alive with a reactive nanotech soup, and all of them carried weapons which they kept pointed at the humans.

They didn’t waste time, the one in front spoke directly to James: “M. Welthammer you are carrying with you a spy guilty of treason against the Horadrim Empire he is carrying highly sensitive proprietary information of the Empire.”

“Ah yes, that would be M. Page, here you go,” Shrak jostled the spy, “can’t say I’ll be sad to be rid of him in fact.  I don’t know anything about ‘proprietary information’, but he has got a datapad with him.”  James hoped he’d managed to say that with a straight face.

But the Horadrim didn’t seem to be paying attention, he gestured to the tied up spy, and one of the boarders stepped forward…and shot M. Page in the face.  He then shot the dead man’s breast, where the datapad would have been resting in his jacket; there was an acrid smell as the energy weapon burned metal and flesh.

James and his companions were in shock, “Uh…could you tell me what exactly it is that you think you’re doing shooting people on my ship?”

The Horadrim ignored him, and intoned clearly, “M. Welthammer, you are wanted in the Middle Kingdom on charges of murder, terrorism, and treason.  I am authorized under the charter between our governments to arrest you and your crew and to extradite them to the Middle Kingdom; you will lay down your weapons and surrender your ship.”

“What?!  You can’t—!”

The Horadrim soldiers knew exactly what they were doing, their weapons were just as effective clubs as they were guns, and within a second or two, all of the humans at the airlock, including the former TI Major, were either unconscious, or wishing they could be.  The rest of the crew, following their earlier orders, offered no resistance. 

A mere three hours since he’d left the surface of Istoral, and James was being forced onto a Horadrim military vessel as a prisoner.  Well, he reflected, at least they’ve left my ship intact, I’ll have it refitted and running once I get out of this one, and then it’s a big middle finger to any more golram government missions.

 

Five minutes later, the Resolve was scuttled.

 

 

END OF ACT I