Birthright: Battle for the Confederation- Turmoil Read online

  Halley split blood on the floor, the result of a split upper lip, while Tana used the back of her hand to try to wipe blood off her brow that threatened to drip into her eyes and blind her.

  "Couldn't interest you in surrendering, could I?" Halley said slowly.

  "You're the one with a stab wound and losing blood," Tana countered.

  Halley finally knew what she needed to do. If Tana Starr was best at close-in street fighting, Halley needed to alter her own style. It was time to try something different, something she'd never try with a normal opponent because it would open her up to attack. But it was all she could try; either it would work and Tana would go down, or the Priman would defeat her and she'd go down, in which case Merritt would probably have to shoot her. She didn't want to lose this chance.

  "Alright bitch," Halley sighed, "let's go."

  She charged, taking the offensive a bit recklessly but catching Tana off-guard. The Priman blocked Halley's open palm jab at her nose, deflecting it away and wrapping her arm around, pinning Halley's arm under her shoulder. Halley then had to block Tana's strike at her own stomach, leaving each one with a grip on one of the other's hands and almost face to face. Halley snapped her head forward as hard as she could, head-butting Tana in the nose and breaking it convincingly. The Priman woman's eyes teared up uncontrollably and she tried to back up to separate herself so she could recover from her body's involuntary reaction.

  Halley hit her with a roundhouse kick to the chest with her right leg- the one with the chair spindle speared right through it. It was excruciating, and she commanded her nanites to do the best they could to block the pain so she could continue.

  Starr bounced off the wall and back to Halley, still not going down but disoriented and on the ropes.

  Halley spun clockwise in place on her left leg and landed a spinning back kick to the Priman woman. Her leg extended perfectly, torso angling down and her foot ending up higher than her head. She caught Starr on the chin with her heel and she felt the crunch of contact.

  Tana Starr flew back against the wall, eyes glazed over and shattered teeth dribbling out of her mouth. The Priman woman sank to the floor, lights out.

  Halley turned a bit to face the woman directly, then dropped to the floor and leaned back on her hands. She paused to gather herself, then looked at her leg, still bleeding freely from her wound. "Owww!" she finally yelled.

  Merritt rushed to her and put his hand on her shoulder.

  "You ok?" he asked.

  "Do I look ok?"

  "Never better," he replied. "I'm going to go help Loren and Web."

  Merritt got up and took a step to the pile of bodies that was Loren, Web, and Velk. After Velk tacked them, at least one was always on the ground. Velk kept grabbing and holding them, determined to keep them wrapped up and out of Starr's fight. Now, it was just a mess, as neither of the three could disengage. Fists flew, elbows snapped, and curses were uttered.

  "Hey!" Merritt yelled at them to no effect.

  "Stop it!" he yelled again. There was no change. Velk wasn't going to stop, and Loren and Web couldn't get away.

  Merritt looked at Halley, who sat wearily on the floor, simply unable to do anything about the last fight going.

  "Nothing says I can't shoot him, right?" he asked her.

  "I'd prefer you didn't kill him, but just go for it," she said in a rush, blowing out her breath as she waved a tired arm and pointed at Velk.

  Merritt waited until there was some separation, and then he had his opportunity. Velk was kicked out of the pile as Loren scrambled to his feet, and Merritt fired a single blast right into Velk's shoulder. The Priman grimaced and growled but didn't cry out in pain. He was, however, unable to keep up the fight. Loren and Web both jumped on him and rolled him on his stomach while Merritt tossed them a pair of stunner cuffs Halley had made each of them bring.

  They cuffed his ankles together, then dragged him to the wall by Tana Starr where Loren used his own pair of cuffs to bind his hands together in his lap; you wanted to see the prisoner's bonds to make sure they weren't picking the latching mechanism.

  "Can you find me another chair for her to sit in?" Halley quietly asked Merritt, who nodded and began searching the bedrooms.

  Web raced to Halley's side and supported her as she got to her feet. She was in pain but seemed to be in good spirits.

  "I suppose I look like hell, eh?" she said with a chuckle that turned into a cough.

  "You've never been sexier," Web replied.

  "I've gotta tell you, I really don't feel like it right now." Halley stood, unsteadily at first, but after a minute was able to do well enough while holding onto Web's shoulder. "I should have worn the body armor pants like Cory did."

  Merritt brought in two chairs and he and Loren dragged Tana into one of them, securing her with the last two pairs of stunner cuffs. It was metal framed, on castoring wheels and well cushioned. An office chair.

  Web turned to Halley. "Well, think of this then while you get your bearings back; you had a new experience today. I'll bet you've never been stabbed by a chair before."

  A pause. "Sadly, this is not the first time."

  Web only raised an eyebrow, not sure of how to respond to that.

  "Well, I for one will think of this day fondly."

  "Whenever I think about this day," Halley replied, "I'm going to go find Loren and smack him for getting me into this mess. No matter where he is, there will be nowhere to hide."

  "I think Senator Dennix and his governing committee already have rights to my bodily harm," Loren chimed in from where he stood over Starr. "But you're welcome to get in line."

  "What do we want with her, anyway?" Merritt asked, gesturing to Starr.

  "You've already won," Velk said from his spot on the floor. "Torture and humiliation won't help your cause."

  "No torture," reassured Halley. "No humiliation. Well, not unless she says something really embarrassing to your cause."

  Velk looked at her quizzically. The blaster burn was apparently not that much of an issue to him, for he hadn’t even looked at the wound yet.

  Halley reached into her back pocket and took out a slim metal case. It was dented and creased from the fight, but that didn't seem to worry her. She opened it up, flipping the top over and gently removed a small, thin disc, about the size of a grown human's thumb.

  "What is that?" asked Velk with disdain.

  "It's an interrogation drug," Halley replied easily. "We finally think we have your physiology figured out. I don't mind admitting it took our folks a long time to do it, too." She took the disk, peeled off the backing on the underside, and stuck it on Tana's neck, right on her carotid artery. There was a faint hissing noise, and the disc stayed in place when Halley took her finger off it. "It's an effective, noninvasive and nondamaging way of extracting information." She used Web for support as she took small steps over to the second office chair Merritt had found. She eased down into it with a grimace, but kept talking.

  "I'm sure you know the perils of torture for interrogation purposes. Sometimes it works, but permanent damage isn't something to be proud of. Plus, you have to be careful with information received under duress; it's probably inaccurate and needs to be verified. This, however, is different. It doesn't technically make you tell the truth; nobody anywhere in the galaxy had been able to brew up something infallible that works like that. What it does is lowers inhibitions, like you've just had seven or ten drinks. It also scrambles you, confuses you, so you can't put together a good lie. So, you're loose lipped and too addled to be cagey. I would think you'd appreciate the idea that we could get information out of you without harming the subject."

  "What is it you want from her?" asked Velk, ignoring the jab.

  "I need to know why this breakout happened," Halley replied. "I need to know who her accomplices were, how many Primans are disguised as Confed citizens, where they were going to take you, and frankly everything else she knew about the war effort. And the best part
is, she'll tell me in short order."

  Chapter Fourteen

  It only took a few minutes for Starr to start to come around, and Halley knew they were already on the clock. She didn't have long to work on Tana Starr. One quick call to the city police dispatcher with a few code words had bought her some time, but if enough calls were received about the ruckus the authorities would have to send someone sooner or later. She'd already sent Cory to retrieve the hovercar and wait on the roof for a quick getaway, because time was certainly of the essence and they couldn't afford to be detained while the local authorities sorted out who was a Priman, who was Confed, and who was just trouble. Halley had already informed them that she'd be staying behind. She'd explain the situation to the locals and then report in to her own superiors on-planet.

  "Ms. Starr," Halley said neutrally, her voice calm. "Ms. Starr, I need you to wake up." She stood over Starr, trying to remain calm. With the combination of drugs in the serum coursing through Starr's veins, Halley knew the woman could get spooked into a catatonic state if she wasn't careful.

  She touched Starr on the shoulder, wincing a bit as she shifted weight onto her injured leg as she bent over. "Tana, wake up."

  Starr's head lolled around a bit, then the Priman woman began to blink rapidly as she tried to clear her mind. That wouldn't be completely possible.

  "Tana, are you with me?" Halley asked.

  Starr just nodded, swallowing like she was trying to avoid throwing up.

  "You remember where we are?"

  Starr nodded again.

  "I need you to speak your answers," Halley urged. She realized she was starting to sweat, a combination of her injury and the tension of needing to rush the interrogation.

  "In the safehouse," Tana said slowly, as if she were pondering each word as it escaped her lips, surprised at her own comments.

  "You set this safehouse up?"

  "I looked around for something..."

  Halley sighed. Starr was definitely good. She was trying to give honest answers; just not the answers she'd been asked for. Another minute, though, and the drugs would be fully effective, Halley had been assured.

  "And when you found something, you bought it," Halley prompted. Tana just nodded.

  "And you brought what? Food, furniture?" Halley left a lot of things for Tana to realize she'd left out.

  "And guns, comm equipment. Money, too," Tana added, almost proudly.

  Now we're getting somewhere, Halley thought.

  "How many accomplices do you have?" Halley asked.

  "Salvor's people here," Tana started, "but it looks like you've killed them all."

  "You mean to tell me you're all alone here?" Halley asked skeptically.

  "I don't need help," Tana said confidently even through the drugged haze. "I work alone, always have. I take orders from the Commander himself. I speak for him here on Delos."

  "Who do you speak to on his behalf?"

  "Important people," Tana said, and looked down at the floor.

  "I'll bet they're not that important," Halley countered. Pride in her work would be Tana's downfall. She was very proud of her accomplishments.

  "Oh, you have no idea," Tana said with a smile. "I give orders to Senator Dennix himself."

  Web's arm slipped off the table he'd been using for support and he almost ended up on the floor. Halley shot him a glare; she couldn't afford any distractions.

  "Been doing that for quite some time, I'll bet," Halley said.

  "I came here not long after Ples Damar was killed. He was Dennix's first handler, you know," Tana said conspiratorially. "He's such a basket case at times. He thinks he's playing both sides, Confed as well as us Primans. But we're one step ahead of him; he won't get too far out of line."

  "So was it you or him who's been behind all the strange policies out of here lately?" asked Halley.

  "Me, of course," Tana replied. "We give Dennix orders, he carries them out. From abandoning the Talarans to moving Representative Velk to the outskirts of the city so I could meet with him when I needed to."

  Halley tried to take it in stride, but it was hard to hear that the man running the committee that was in charge of the Confederation was a puppet to the Primans. It also occurred to her that she needed to test Tana to see if she was telling the truth. Halley needed something restricted to ask the Priman that she already knew the answer to.

  "So you moved him here after he was captured during the Battle of Metros," Halley started, feeding Tana a false location.

  Tana looked at Halley again, cocked her head and squinted her eyes a bit. "You're trying to trick me again, aren't you?" she asked. "You know he was captured at a hidden data facility."

  "By a SAR team of commandoes," Halley said confidently.

  "By all of you in this room," Tana said, a little annoyed. "I have access to everything the military has, including after-action reports."

  "Lovely," Loren couldn't stop from muttering.

  "Moving on," Halley continued. "We know about the rings you wear that mask your bio signs. What about the prosthetics you wear? Are they permanent?"

  "No," Tana said. "They come off easily enough with the right solvent. Between the rings and makeup, your people have no idea we're here."

  "How many of you are there?"

  "Not all that many, I think," Tana replied. "I know there was an infiltration program, but it's compartmentalized. I think I was the highest-placed one of us, though."

  "So now we're here," Halley continued. "Why rescue Velk now? He seemed safe enough; out of play, so to speak. Why risk it?"

  "Well, we had to try, for starters," Tana said reasonably. "He's the former Commander, and as a Representative holds a lot of valuable intel. The Council virtually demanded a rescue mission." She looked like she was going to continue, but then closed her mouth and stopped short.

  Halley's curiosity was piqued now. Tana was trying her best to hide something and was covering by not talking. Even though she realized she was going to tell the truth, if she didn't talk, she wasn't giving up any info.

  "And how were you going to get him off-planet?"

  Tana looked at Halley, then Velk. She looked at the floor, lights, Loren's still-unholstered SSK, anything to buy time.

  "Tana," Halley commanded, "talk to me. How was he going to get back to Priman space?"

  Tana opened her mouth, shut it again, like she couldn't decide what to say.

  "Tana!" Halley shouted. The Priman woman jumped in her chair, startled and a bit rattled by the noise. She shook her head violently, to the point where Halley wondered if she was having a reaction to the drug and was experiencing a seizure. Finally, she looked at Halley again. She whispered so low that nobody could hear.

  "You need to speak up," Halley said in a firm tone.

  Tana lifted her chin, collected herself, and looked Halley firmly in the eye. "He wasn't going to make it."

  Silence fell over the room as everyone tried to interpret what that meant. Was he going to hide out in some secret location, lead a fleet? Only Halley made the leap.

  "You were going to kill him," she said in a somewhat shocked voice.

  Velk's eyes widened as he looked at Tana in a fresh light. He wasn't about to take one statement as gospel, though, especially considering he was dealing with a trained Priman operative with alien drugs coursing through her veins. She could very well be giving the Confeds a false trail to follow.

  "Why kill him?" Halley asked softly.

  Tana spoke easier now, as though breaking the barrier on her secret made it impossible to hold back the rest. "We, the Primans, came back to this galaxy to take over, to restore order. We also planned to return those lesser races that we'd helped back to their place below us. Representative Velk was always of the more tolerant persuasion when it came to dealing with you. He ordered the DNA research, but our current Commander, back when he was simply Representative Tash, was the one who weaponized it. Representative Velk seemed fascinated by the ability you had developed
to defend yourselves and the cultural identities you'd formed. He almost admired you, as much as a patriot can admire a foe."

  She paused to organize her thoughts, then carried on. "The new Commander-"

  "Tash" Halley interjected, to which Tana nodded in an annoyed fashion.

  “The Commander has no place for disobedience amongst you. We came to rule, and if you aren't going to be a part of that, you will be eliminated. He wants swift and total domination; there is no place for compromise or amnesty. You can join or be destroyed. Representative Velk, however, was known to being willing to entertain all the options. He was more open to an alternative beyond simple subjugation. There are many on the Council who would have allowed that method to be explored, for while we are clear in purpose, there are already some who want the war over.

  "This presented a problem for the Commander. If Velk was allowed to return to Priman space, he would have been reinstated as Representative. He would have had the ear of the Council and a great deal of influence. His platform of tolerance and willingness to explore other options would have weakened the resolve of many and put the positions of the hard liners in jeopardy. Remove Velk, however, and now the Commander is undisputed. Nobody would speak against him, and with the alliances he's made, he will get his way. And that is to scorch any planet that doesn't fall in line. He couldn't have Representative Velk jeopardize his plans for success."

  By now Velk's hard facade was gone. His mouth hung open a bit, just like Loren's. For some reason they both looked at each other at the same time, though both looked away instantly.

  "Commander Tash would rather assassinate a respected warrior like Velk than risk the chance that he wouldn't get to annihilate us in his own way?" Halley summarized.

  Tana simply nodded.

  "Were you going to pull the trigger?"

  "I planted a bomb on their transport. It would have detonated as they fled the planet."

  "Kill the whole team and everything," Merritt said in shock. "For a group of people who claim to be so evolved, you sure seem to be picking up a lot of our dirty human habits."