Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

Galileo IV

Space Port City

A storm was indeed moving in.  If Jeremiah had thought the air was thick when he left the ship, he was nearly choking on it now.  He could hardly tell if the moisture forming on his brow was rain water or sweat.  A sudden cool breeze brought a touch of relief.  That was until the sky began to outright fall on his head.  

He quickly made his way through the streets as they began filling with rain water, thunder echoing off in the distance as the storm grew closer.  As he reached the ship, he saw the loading ramp was down.  Alec had retrieved his parts he’d guessed.  

He saw that Ariella was out of her room and sitting next to Alec on a crate.

“Alec, get away from her!  What the hell is she doing out of her room?” he shouted, quickly drawing his pistol.  He suddenly became aware of two other men standing near them.

“Who the hell are they?  What’s going on here?”

“Well, these gentlemen were helping me load the new parts…”

Suddenly something metal tapped at the back of his head.

“Then we decided to take your ship.” A gravelly voice said from behind.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Jeremiah muttered.

Jeremiah sat on the crate next to Ariella and Alec, his hands bound behind his back just as theirs were.  The three men rummaged through a half dozen or so crates and boxes taking inventory of all that was there.  The head honcho barked orders at the other two as they began to pack up several items.

“You are the worst job I have ever pulled,” Jeremiah hissed towards Ariella.

“Excuse me?”

“You’re a nightmare.  And I know who you are. And I know you have something to do with my wife, damn it!” His voice raised at the end drawing the attention of the thugs.

“Hey!  Shut up over there!” Head Honcho yelled.

“I didn’t ask to be shot and frozen and kidnapped,” she hissed back to Jeremiah.

“I didn’t kidnap you!”

“I said shut up over there!” Head Honcho shouted again.

“What were you doing on Sedna?” Jeremiah asked, ignoring the thug.

Ariella stiffened.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.  Probably planting a bomb or something.  I know all about your connection to Shadow Cartel, you’re a damn terrorist!”

“You know nothing. I’m no terrorist,” she said through her teeth.

“And what do you know about Sokyate?”

Ariella snapped her eyes to him at hearing the word.

“I knew it.  You are connected to them.”

Head Honcho had had enough.  He moved quickly towards the group with his pistol gripped backwards clearly hoping to bash it against someone’s skull. As he raised his arm to deliver the blow to Jeremiahs temple Ariella lunged in to his side knocking him so off balance that they both tumbled rather ungracefully to the floor.  Ariella was quick, though, and spun herself around locking her legs around Head Honcho’s neck.  Jeremiah launched in to action himself, throwing himself on to the thugs arm and ripping the pistol away.  He stood and fired a round towards the underlings.  With his hands still bound behind him, he shot wide.  That’s what he told himself anyways.

He looked down at his feet to see Head Honchos face turning blue as his eyes haemorrhaged and bulged in their sockets.  Ariella twisted her thighs and a gruesome pop ended the thugs struggle for life.  Ariella released her grip and spun herself to her feet.  A round of bullets hurtled past them as the remaining thugs began returning fire.  They both took cover behind the crate.

“Where’d Alec go?” Jeremiah questioned.

“No idea.  Give me your knife.” She hadn’t really asked permission as she pulled it out of sheath on Jeremiahs thigh and somehow freed her hands.  She cut his free just as quickly and then disappeared behind a stack of boxes.

What a lunatic.

Jeremiah poked his head and pistol over his cover and sent a few rounds towards the would be thieves. They returned the greeting.  After a few exchanges, he heard a guttural scream come from where one of the thieves was positioned.  It ended as quickly is it began and was followed by a thud as a small pool of blood quickly flowed out from behind a stack.

“Just give up!” a voice yelled. “You can’t win!”

Jeremiah glanced at the pool of blood and shouted, “I don’t think you boys know what you’re up against.  Certainly took me a while to figure out.”

Another report of gunfire ricocheted past his cover and slammed in to the bulk head.

“Hey, quit shootin’ my ship!” Jeremiah shouted.

He heard some footsteps getting closer to him.

“Alec, is that you?” he whispered.  “Ariella?”  

The lingering silence grew worrisome.  He crawled to one side of his cover and chanced a glance around.  A mistake.  The barrel of a thief’s gun greeted his face.

“Mother…”

“Get up.”

He stood slowly and saw the other thief was still taking cover behind a stack near the loading ramp, gun trained at him.

“Where’s the girl and the kid?” the man asked.

“Hell if I know.  Last I saw, the girl was killing your friend back there, and Alec…well, he’s a shifty lil guy.  Who knows what he’s up to.”

“This is your only chance!” he shouted to anyone and everyone. “Come out, or I put a bullet in this guy’s head.”

Just then a loud crack echoed through the cargo hold as the thief in the back collapsed in a fit of convulsions. The thief at Jeremiahs throat spun to see his friend writhing in agony as Alec stood above him with a shock stick.

“Alec!” Jeremiah shouted and kneed the remaining thief in the leg.  The man’s shot went wide, landing somewhere beyond the loading ramp.  He spun and whipped Jeremiah in the face with the butt of the pistol.  Jeremiahs vision blackened for a moment.  When he looked he saw only the barrel of the thief’s gun, and his knife sticking out of the man’s neck. A drop of blood trickled down the blades handle, splashing on the ground by Jeremiahs face.

Ariella pulled the knife from the man’s neck and he collapsed, Jeremiah barely managed to roll away in time as the body dropped on top of him.

“God, woman.  Are you always so messy?”

Ariella rolled her eyes and pulled him to his feet.

“You wanna talk?  Let’s talk.” She said, then stabbed his knife back in to its sheath without even a glance.

Jeremiah dried himself off and put on a new pair of clothes.  Ariella and Alec were already in the galley waiting for him. He sat down at the table across from Ariella and placed his pistol in front of him, pointing it towards her.  

"I’m not a god, Jeremiah. You could kill me if you wanted."

Jeremiah calmly placed his hand on the gun. Ariella didn’t flinch.

"You say you know who i am now. Well, think i know who you are, too."

The admission confused him.

"What does a terrorist know about me?"

"I’m not a terrorist." She said again through her teeth. Clearly it was a sore subject for her. He made a note of that.

"Listen you prick. I’m trying to tell you that i may know your wife."

The words hit him like a punch to the chest. He sat upright and shot her a cautious glare

"What do you know about my wife?  Do you know what Sokyate is?" His excitement was noticeable.

"Hang on a second.  We need to get on the same page if were to help each other at all."

She was right.  He needed to control himself. But this was the closest he had ever come finding out about the connection to this Sokyate and his wife. He couldn’t let it slip away like it had every time before.

"No," he said biting hard.  "You're going to answer my questions or im going to put a bullet in your f*****g face." He stood and snatched up his pistol shoving the barrel at her nose. Smooth. Real f*****g smooth, J. He told himself.

Ariella just looked at him the way a mother might look at a child acting up one too many times and swatted the gun away.

"Sit down you jackass."  

He heard Alec laugh behind him. He was actually thankful for her response.  He had always been a bit of a hot head and frequently regretted his rash actions. He took a moment to gather himself, gun still firmly in his grasp.

"Alright.  Tit for tat, Ariella. I start."

She tossed her hands up in mock surrender.

Still standing he began his interigation.  

"What is Sokyate?"

She sighed.

"All i know is that Sokyate pops up every time I dig deep enough about the plague. Dr. Massey-" she paused. "Your wife, if I’m not mistaken, told me about her role in the plagues development."

"What plague? Do you mean the Wan Ren?" Jeremiah interrupted.

"Yes.  Jeremiah, your wife, Dr. Massey has been in hiding for several years, fearing for her life because of her role in the creation of the plague."

"What are you talking about? She didn’t create any plague.  The Wan Ren were genetically weak. Inferior. The plague was little more than natural selection running its course." Jeremiah could feel himself getting angry again. "And how the hell do you know this doctor is my wife?"

Ariella turned to Alec, Jeremiah followed her eyes.

"Alec was telling me about your wife during the trip out here.  I put two and two together.  When you mentioned Sokyate, i knew it had to be true.  Why else would someone other than me be so obsessed with that name?"

This was all too much for him.  He lowered his gun and sank back in to his seat. He looked at her with desperate eyes.

"She’s alive?"

"Yes." Ariella replied with genuine solace. "At least, she was before I left for Sedna."

Jeremiah focused.

"What do you mean?"

"Jeremiah, my mission on Sedna was top secret.  Someone set me up.  And if that someone knew I was there, then they probably knew about Dr. Massey’s involvement."

           “What are you saying?  She might be in danger?”

        “I’m saying I don’t know what’s going on any more.  You know that Sedna used to be a trade hub before the Plague War, right?”

   Jeremiah nodded.

   “Sedna was a major trade hub, which means it was, and still is, connected to some extremely important CSA networks.  Since the end of the war, the security there has decreased exponentially, as a smuggler I’m sure you’ve noticed.”

   He nodded again, beginning to understand her point.

   “That made Sedna an excellent access point for top secret government information.  Information that Dr. Massey was helping me to locate.”

   She took a deep breath before continuing.

   “Jeremiah.  There is a war coming.  A war between the oppressors and the oppressed.”

   “This is madness.  You’re talking about rebellion?  No one can stand up against the CSA.  They are too big, too powerful.”

   “Unless you can kill them from the inside out.”

   They stared at each other for a long moment. Jeremiah trying to comprehend everything Ariella was saying.  Kasia, his wife, part of a conspiracy to take down the Wan Ren? It couldn’t be.  But it could make sense.  The arguments, the distance in the final days.  Her sudden disappearance.  Could this really all be true?  The government he had pledged his life to, the oppression he took up arms against was not the Wan Ren, but his own people?

“I need to see her,” he said.

“I need your help.”

“How can someone like me help you someone like you?  You’re a trained killer, connected to the biggest dark group known, galaxy wide.”

“That’s the problem, Jeremiah.  I can’t trust anyone I know any more.  You’re an outsider, with your own connections, your own means.”

“What do you mean?”

“I need answers.  I need to know who set me up, who I can trust.  You can get me close without raising suspicion. If you pose as a buyer, you can get me close to the people who knew I’d be on sedan, close so I can question them.  We can find out what they know about your wife as well.  Where she is now, if she’s safe.”

Jeremiah turned to Alec.  He nodded in approval.

“Alright.  Where do we start?