18

Protecting the survivors

"We need to go," John told Edward at the man's temporary dwelling at that moment.

"John?" Edward asked in reply, surprised by a visit. "What's happening?"

"Didn't you hear?" John asked incredulously. "We need to get you and Leila to safety. Jason's gone missing from the holding cells."

Edward's heart skipped a beat. "What?!"

"We're still trying to piece together what happened," John tried to explain. "There was a hostage situation at the central mess hall earlier today. We managed to resolve it pretty quickly thanks to Davidson and Miradima, but it was just a cover for their little jailbreak. Jason wasn't the only prisoner taken, and we're trying to move anyone connected with those that were broken out."

Edward didn't need any further prompting. He called out for his daughter and then followed John.

The journey was relatively swift, meeting up with Mephicia at the entrance to the building, and then moving at something of a jog trot toward another building not too far away.

'C' frowned as he saw someone walk up to the building that he had discovered prior to when they took the kid from the jail-house. After watching the place for almost an hour to make sure it was occupied, he was about to move in and grab the girl when this fool showed up.

The guy stepped in... Then quickly stepped back out, with an old guy. Some bulked up Tau Cetian bitch met up with them and started escorting them away from the building, headed off some place 'C' could only guess.

This was about to get messy, but he had a job to do, so he tailed them.

John felt the hair on the back of his neck start to rise, as the air turned cold from a gust of wind. At the same time, he caught something out of the corner of his sight, swivelling around to look at what it was.

Nothing out of the ordinary. People milling about, going about their business.

He stepped up to rejoin the others, jogging on to their destination, a transport facility where cargo and personnel could be teleported from ships in orbit to a designated site.

This is where they would take Edward and Leila, and where they planned to bring the others.

John and Mephicia had both surmised that there was a strong chance that whoever took those prisoners either needed them for something, or was just plain nuts. In either event, any uncooperative prisoners might need to be coerced through some form of leverage, and John knew in Jason's case, that leverage was his sister Leila. He and Edward might not be talking to each other these days, but they were still blood, and John doubted Edward or Jason would be pleased of the other got hurt, so, they were going to the one place that they could almost guarantee their safety.

The Kl'Deesius, safely up in orbit, accessible only by teleport.

"Alright," John told them both. "We're here." While John was talking to Edward, Mephicia was requesting transport for two people in her own language. A confirmation tone sounded, alerting John. "Stand on the pads, don't step away from them for a few seconds. You'll be up there shortly."

Edward nodded. Leila gave a very shaky nod, betraying her nervousness.

John nodded to Mephicia, who tapped her communicator and instructed the transporter to proceed.

In a flash, Edward and Leila vanished off of the pads, their silhouettes quickly dissipating.

Neither John nor Mephicia saw the large, stringy male step inside the building, and didn't notice him until he was almost upon them. The heavy whack that was intended for the back of John's neck might have killed him were it not for Mephicia seeing the assailant, and propelling John out of the way at the last moment. As it was, he felt his shoulder blossom in extreme pain from a blow that he had no doubt was intended to break his neck.

As he was propelled to a nearby wall by the force of the blow, falling to his knees, he turned to see Mephicia grappling with the man. She was strong, powerful, her leonine physique straining against the other guy's bulky mass. John had no idea how this guy could be so big.

But Mephicia was slowly losing ground, and as she realized her predicament, she instead pulled him around, over her shoulder, and was rolling so that he would land on the ground and her on him as a cushion. Surprisingly, the bulky guy grabbed her by the waist and rolled over so she was on the floor, and John caught a gleam in his eye.

Oh no way, you fucker, John thought, enraged by the idea that someone could be so bold as to entertain the idea of sexual assault during a brawl. He leapt up and ran toward the guy on the floor, jumping onto his back and grappling him in an arm lock, trying to pull him off of Mephicia.

He struggled to get his arm around the guy's neck, but it was no good. The guy was just too powerful, he couldn't get anywhere... And a moment later, he was horrified to see the guy had pulled a sharp object from his pants, plunging it into Mephicia's chest and causing her to let go.

With a cry of rage, John renewed his efforts to choke the big guy, but again, to no avail. Instead, the guy lifted him up off of the floor, ran backwards, and started slamming John into a nearby wall. Given it was a pre-fab wall designed to shelter from the elements, the walls were weak, and John felt them collapse as he hit them. It was still enough to cause him to lose his grip, falling to the floor.

Before he had a chance to react, before he could even cry out, the big guy had plunged his shiv into John's neck, watching as blood spurted out of the wound. John felt his head go light, his mind go woozy, and then he lost consciousness.

'C' was breathing heavily after the brawl he was in. He was big, and he was strong, but he wasn't meant to keep up a fight like this for long. That's what the shiv was for, to end an opponent quickly before he ran out of steam himself. Still, this one was close, and as he watched both the guy and the security bitch bleed out in front of him, he knew he had fucked it up. He knew that 'A' would be displeased.

His quarry had gone to ground, and was now out of their reach.

In an act of malice and frustration, he kicked the guy in the ribs, hard, despite the fact that there was no fight left in the guy, and as he continued bleeding from his throat, his face turned white, and he collapsed.

'C' watched, uncomprehending, as the security woman grabbed John's leg now that he was within reach, and then, as she struggled to reach for something on her belt. He had no idea what it was, but he suspected it could be a weapon, so he started to approach, intent on putting her out of her misery, but as he started to raise his foot to her head, she pushed a device on her belt. Both her and the guy disappeared in a flash of light that temporarily blinded 'C'.

When he regained his vision, he looked around, frantically. Where did they go?

In a fit of anger, he put his fist through a partition wall, and stalked out.

Stephen lay with Janet on the bunk in their assigned quarters aboard the Kl'Deesius. Mostly, things had been quiet after her confession to him earlier, the odd bout of discussing trivial matters, but mostly silence. It was comfortable, though. She said little to him for the next hour, but her hands slowly rubbed against his chest as she lay curled up against his side.

For now, he was perfectly content.

"When we're done up here, you wanna go get a chocolate malt?" Janet asked, looking up at him with uncharacteristically adorable puppy-dog eyes.

Stephen looked down at her face, mulling it over. Any excuse to spend more time with her was a good thing, he thought to himself, although what passed for chocolate on this planet left much to be desired, even compared to the stocks that were on the Tau Ceti when the vessel was still intact. "Sure, you thinking of grabbing one and taking a walk through the colony streets?"

She nodded, a slow smile appearing on her face. "Then after that, maybe we could go over to my place?" Her tone was hesitant, as she started to curl her legs a little, blushing. "I-I know I could be flighty, but..."

Stephen could kiss her right now, but contented himself with gently stroking his hand through her hair where it lay on his chest, and nodded to her, giving her a reassuring smile. "I'd love that."

Her smile deepened, and after a moment, she pulled herself up so her face was next to his, and they started to kiss, gently at first, but slowly becoming more vigorous.

An alert tone sounded outside their quarters, causing Janet to jump in alarm, looking around for the source of the noise. Within a moment, she had let out a sigh as she realised there was no immediate danger, but Stephen frowned.

He knew that tone. It was an alert tone for a medical emergency...

"Fuck!" He called out. "Honey, I gotta go see what that is," he told her, and she immediately lifted herself up, giving him room to move. Without realising he had done so, he had given her a cursory kiss on the lips as he started for the door, but didn't protest when she followed him out.