Crineal Chronicles 1: In Hera's Service (14 page)

“Sit.
Down.” Crineal didn’t shout but he didn’t need to. His voice was edged in ice
with ten years of command experience behind it. Between that and the look on
his face, Cyndora didn’t argue. She moved to sit at the table. “Not. There.” He
pointed at the easy chair in front of the entertainment unit. “There.” Each
word was precisely bitten off. She wanted to protest but saw that his eyes were
grey. Usually they were a grey-blue; when he was happy or teasing they seemed
to turn a deep blue. She’d never seen them this color.

“Now,
I’m going to ask you a few questions. They are going to be blunt and you can be
as crude as you like in return. Then I’m going to tell you about one of my
battles and show you something. Then we’ll see.” Crineal’s stare fixed her to
her seat, and she nodded wordlessly. “So you think the Empire is brutal. Did
you know you were breaking the law by joining the rebels?”

“Yes,
but…,” his look froze the words in her throat.

“And
to which detention center were you sent?” he demanded coldly.

Cyndora
didn’t understand where he was going with this. “Birmingham High Security
Unit.”

He
nodded. “And whilst you were there, you were stripped of your name, denied access
to your family, beaten and raped,” Crineal stated almost brutally.

To
hear him admit so frankly what had happened to her gave her chills. He knew,
and yet was still somehow defending what he did? “Yes, raped,” she said
defiantly, trying not to give him any satisfaction in her admission, but
something about how this was going was still wrong.

“And
then they sentenced you to a medium security prison. Which one?” He was calm
now, but still absolute ice.

“London
Reclamation Security Three.” She shuddered, remembering the description of the
place.

“But
you were offered this duty instead, at a reduced sentence?” She nodded again,
still not sure where he was going.

“And
the indoctrination for this was more beatings, rape and sexual abuse.” It was
more of a statement than a question.

“YES,”
she shouted out him. “Every day we had to perform, with the guards, with the
other prisoners, with men and women, whatever they told us to do!!! Does that
give you a thrill??” She was in tears and angry and confused and so many other
emotions, she didn’t know what she was feeling.

“And
you saw other assistants already serving in the recreational area when you
arrived.” Crineal was implacable.

“Yes,”
she sobbed, holding herself and shuddering.

“And
did the other prisoners seem particularly bruised or maltreated apart from the
nature of their duties?” His look was piercing.

“Yes,
no… I guess not.” Thinking about it, the woman who had spoken to her intake
when they first arrived in the dorm actually hadn’t seemed to be in distress.

Crineal
nodded and waited for a moment. “Do you know the name of a rebel prison colony
where they hold Imperial captives? You don’t have to tell me the name of the
place or where it is, just that you know of one.”

Cyndora
stared at him in total confusion at the sudden change in direction. He looked
at her patiently, waiting for her answer. She couldn’t think. There had to be
one because she’d heard that some of the rebel cells had captured Imperials.
But for the life of her she couldn’t remember a name being mentioned. “I… I
don’t know,” she eventually stammered.

“How
long were you part of a rebel cell?” The question appeared casual, but Cyndora
felt it was all headed somewhere.

“Three
years,” Cyndora sniffled. Her nose felt blocked due to the crying.

“And
in three years, you never heard the name of any rebellion prison camp?” Crineal
pressed.

“No,
I told you,” she answered, getting angry again in her confusion.

“But
you’d heard of Imperial prisons, even before you were captured.” Again, he made
it sound like a statement rather than a question.

“Of
course,” she said scornfully. “Everyone’s heard about them.”

“Do
you know how many rebellion prison camps we’ve managed to track down or even
just discover the name of?”  Cyndora looked at him as if he were crazy. How
would she know that? “The answer is none, not one. No records of a camp, nor
any names, locations, code names, supplies, absolutely nothing. Seems pretty
unlikely, doesn’t it?” The look he now gave her was mocking. “So that’s my
questions. Now for my story.” Crineal pulled up a dining chair and sat in front
of her, hunched forward so he could look her in the eyes. The anger was rapidly
draining from Cyndora and being replaced by fear. She didn’t know what was
coming, but she knew without a shred of doubt that she didn’t want to hear it.

“It
was my fifth year in the Space Corps and the squadron I was in was flying
patrol out in the middle of nowhere. We had a scout flight with us and their
sensors detected an odd formation of ships at extreme range. Two destroyers and
a light cruiser. They looked to be of rebel configuration. My commander decided
to shadow them whilst he called up a squadron of bombers and some boarding
craft. His plan was to try and disable them and find out what they were doing
out there. As he was a general, no one back at base was going to veto his play.
So we followed along at extreme range until the bombers got there. None of us
could figure it out. They seemed to have no fighter cover and for just these
three to be on their own was more than odd.” Crineal paused, “Enjoying the
story so far?”

Cyndora
was now getting scared and shook her head.

“Don’t
worry, it gets better. So, after tailing them for an hour and with still no
clue what they are doing, our bomber support shows up. The fight is over pretty
quick. The engines of one destroyer and the light cruiser were knocked out. The
other destroyer took an unlucky hit, we think, and blew up… but maybe not. You’ll
see why there is doubt. So, the two ships are drifting and the boarding crews
go in. Next thing I know, the general is ordering his flight, which includes
me, to board the cruiser with him. The rest of the squadron is ordered to stand
off. So we land and immediately the ship has an odd feel. It’s rebel all right,
but not a standard internal configuration. The marine major in charge of the
boarding crew appears and takes the general to one side and talks quietly to
him. The general looks more and more grim the longer the major goes on. Finally,
the major stops. The general comes back to us and orders the two junior pilots
to remain there, in the bay, and to talk to no one. As his aide, he orders me
to follow him.” Crineal’s face looked entirely too haunted for Cyndora’s
liking. “So the marine major leads us into the ship. We pass through
maintenance sections and then living quarters and then into one area that
appears to be a cell area. There aren’t many prisoners and most of them are
dead, but still bleeding. There are only two prisoners left alive and they are
incoherent. Then, just past the cell area, there are three large rooms that, at
first, I thought were medical bays. There were tables and surgical instruments
and medical display panels. Then I start noticing the oddities, like power
tools… and some really obvious cameras situated around the room… and it’s
starting to look less and less like a med bay. The major then leads us to the
bridge where there is a record library and it’s about half full of data
crystals. Some of the crystals are packaged in boxes and addressed for sending
to various rebel high command posts. The boxes themselves are marked as
ultra-secret and not to be opened by anyone but the named commanders. The
crystals however had different designations.” He seemed to be forcing himself
to continue the story now and Cyndora felt more scared than she had in ages.
“The major had already viewed some of them and opted to leave the room. The general
and I stood and watched through random samples of several crystals, both from
packaged boxes and those lying loose. When we were done and I had recovered a
little and cleaned myself up, the general handed me a crystal and told me not
to show anyone else, but to keep it safe and use it to remember what we were
fighting against, rather than fighting for.” Crineal held up the data crystal
in front of her. “Every so often I’m tempted to destroy it, but when I pick it
up I somehow find the courage to put it back in the safe because it reminds me
of what I’m doing here.” Cyndora was now looking in abject terror at the object
Crineal held. “I’ve never had the stomach to watch it again and I’ve never
shown the contents to anyone else or even told them it exists. Now you’re going
to watch it and I’m going to sit here with you.” Crineal’s voice made it sound
like a death sentence and at this point she wasn’t sure that she wouldn’t be
better off if he did shoot her.

He
placed the crystal in the entertainment unit and then moved to stand behind
her, hands firmly on Cyndora’s shoulders, holding her in the chair. The crystal
started playing, showing a naked young man strapped to a table in what looked
like a med bay. She thought it must be the bay that Crineal had mentioned.
There were multiple camera options as part of the display. Two men in plastic
medical aprons then appeared and each took scalpels and proceeded to very
carefully slice strips of skin from the man’s chest and stomach. The recording
came complete with sound track. No one asked any questions, there was only
screaming. Cyndora tried to put her hands over her ears to stop the screams but
Crineal held her arms down. Once they had cut several strips each they poured
something from a bottle into the wounds and the man screamed even louder and
smoke or steam curled up from the wounds. Two hulking guards appeared and held
the prisoner as the two torturers unstrapped him. The camera zoomed in to show
that the table top was roughly corrugated and then panned back out again. The
guards turned the feebly struggling prisoner over so that he was bent over the
table, legs apart, feet secured to the floor and his bleeding chest on the
corrugations. Once he was secured again the guards stepped back out of sight
and one of the men in the aprons undressed, his erection painfully obvious. The
other torturer picked up a scalpel as the naked one moved up behind the man.
Cyndora squeezed her eyes shut, sobbing as the screams got louder. Crineal
stood stony faced, holding her there. Occasionally her eyes came open and she
caught glimpses of the scenes, men and women were involved as both victims and
perpetrators. Eventually, she vomited at one scene involving a woman prisoner
and Crineal finally let her go and she rushed to the bathroom.

Cyndora
knelt curled up over the toilet sobbing hysterically. She was vaguely aware of
the door opening and Crineal coming in and easing the bile splattered robe off
her before shoving it in the recycler. Then he was kneeling beside her once
more with a wet cloth, wiping her face before taking her in his arms and just
holding her. She clung to him, crying incoherently. Cyndora had no idea how
long they sat in the soiled bathroom but eventually, when she had calmed a
little, Crineal picked her up and carried her to his bed. The door to the
lounge was open but thankfully there was no sound coming from there anymore.
Crineal disappeared into the bathroom and she could hear the sounds of him
cleaning. Cyndora curled up on the bed clutching a pillow and crying into it.
Crineal went through to the lounge, and then returned to sit in front of her on
the bed, waiting, holding the crystal. Once the sobs became sniffles and she
looked up at his face, he handed her a damp cloth with his free hand. She wiped
her face gratefully with it and Crineal started to speak once more, his voice
now soft and very sad.

“There
are over fifty hours of recordings on this crystal alone.” He held it up and
she recoiled from it as if it were some piece of primal evil. She saw that Crineal’s
face was as haggard as hers felt. “We recovered sixty-eight crystals in that
ship. The two surviving prisoners were broken, their minds gone. We never got
anything sensible out of them. Their ravings were hideous enough. Not one rebel
survived the capture. They either died fighting or killed themselves. Now you
see why we wondered about the other destroyer blowing up. The ships logs were
wiped so we couldn’t find out anything about them, where they had been or were
going. We were able to identify various rebels amongst the bodies of the crew
and match the names of the commanders on the box labels to known senior rebel
personnel, so we could confirm that it was a rebel operation. I get updated
whenever Fleet Intel finds a few more pieces of the puzzle. As far as we can
make out, you haven’t heard of any rebel prison camps because there aren’t any,
there are just these ships. We don’t know how many. We’ve discovered two others
we think, but they blew up before we could board them. There are no
interrogations on these crystals, no questions, just torture. These are entertainment
crystals. None of the rebel lower echelons, like yourself, seem to be aware of
what is happening. We think that this is based in the senior levels of the
rebel command, but how wide it goes, we don’t know,” he stopped and sat looking
at her. “Do you think this is a fake?” Crineal held up the crystal again. “That
I’m trying to fool you or someone was trying to fool me?”

Cyndora
shook her head and tried to form some words. “I….. I recog… nised…one…..one
…of…the…torturers……,” she sobbed. “He… came…to give…us …a….talk…”

Crineal
stood up and moved to the wall behind her. She heard the panel slide open and
Crineal giving the code to open the hatch. There was a small thunk and then the
sound of the hatch and panel closing. She felt his weight on the bed behind her
and she rolled over to throw her arms around him. Crineal returned her embrace
and sat there gently rocking her, making soothing sounds.  Finally, she looked
up at him.

“Why
didn’t you tell me? Why don’t you tell everybody?” her
voice was
still shaky.

Crineal
looked the saddest she could ever remember seeing him. “Who would believe us?
If you had seen that on the news, you would have screamed ‘fake!’ The rebels
would deny it; and you’d believe their denial, because the people you’re
working for couldn’t possibly be that twisted… right? Everyone knows the
Imperial news is just propaganda and lies.” He threw her words back at her and
they stung her into tears once more. “I’ve never claimed that the Empire is a
paragon of virtue, or even that it’s good, but I know it’s better than what is
on that crystal. We treat prisoners badly, particularly rebel captives. I hate
to think of how rebel prisoners would be treated if we told the Imperial
security and armed forces what we had found. But think of the people in the Rec
dorm. They don’t end up like those Imperial prisoners you saw. I’m sure the
Imperial prisoners would trade their best day for a recreation assistant’s
worst. And I’m still not saying that the rec assistants are treated as they
should be. I am trying to fight for what I believe to be right and influence
the internal politics of the Empire how I can, as is the general I told you
about in my story. He was made a lord and is fighting to clean up the Imperial
council, but it’s going to take time. And in that time I’m trying to do my best
to eradicate the people who had that crystal made." He could feel her head
nodding in agreement against his chest.

Cyndora
clung to him and then noticed the time on the bed panel display. “You’re going
to be late for work,” she sniffled.

Crineal
shook his head. “No work for me today, it’s one of my down days,” he said
gently.

She
took that in. “Oh… could you just hold me then? Please?”

He
stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head softly. “Sure.”A little while
later he could feel her start to fall asleep. He edged her further on to the
bed until she was lying down and cuddled up across him. Crineal managed to palm
the light switch to dim and lay there with Cyndora’s head resting on his chest
and her arm over him. Finally, he started to doze, too.

Crineal
woke up to a loud scream and Cyndora sitting bolt upright in bed shaking.

 “Whu…?”
he looked around the room to try and identify any threat and hit the lights.
“Whatsup?” he mumbled.

Cyndora
was crying again. “It was a nightmare,” she sobbed “I kept seeing those people…
”

Crineal
nodded understandingly. “Ok, it’s ok.” He sat up and held Cyndora once more.
“It’ll be ok. I had them too, after seeing it the first time. Shush.” Once she
had quieted a little he got up and went through the door to the lounge. He came
back a couple of minutes later with a glass of water and a pill.

Cyndora
looked up at the offered tablet and tried a weak smile. “Another aphrodisiac
rape pill, huh?”

Crineal
smiled back at her a little and shook his head gently. “Too smart for me.”

Reaching
out with a shaky hand she took the proffered items and knocked back the tablet
with some water. Cyndora sat there a moment, her arms wrapped around her knees,
still holding the glass and then looked up at Crineal. “I’ve been…,” she
stopped as he held his hand up.

“You
didn’t know, and you didn’t do it, either. I’ve never held what I know is going
on against you.” He reached down and took the glass gently from her hand and
stood there with it, watching her carefully. Her face looked a mess, her hair
was all over the place, and, in general, she was a complete wreck. “I hate to
say it, Hon, but I think you really need a shower.”

Cyndora
looked down at her pajamas in disgust. “Ergh…and you cuddled me like this? You
must have a lot of bravery awards,” she sniffled.

Crineal
put the glass onto a shelf and palmed open the bathroom door before helping
Cyndora up off the bed. He assisted her into the bathroom. “Just throw the
pajamas out to me and I’ll stuff them in the recycler.”

Cyndora
let go of him and before he could even turn to leave she was stripping off her
pajama bottoms and handing them to Crineal followed by her top and her panties.
He turned away blushing a little as she stepped into the shower. The soiled
nightwear was fed into the recycler and after a moment’s thought he did the
same with the sheets from his bed. May as well finish up the cleaning duties,
he thought and made a start on clearing up the mess in the lounge. The bathroom
and bedroom doors were deliberately left open so that he could hear Cyndora if
she needed anything. He was just about done when he heard her calling him.
“Crin? I could use a couple of towels, please?”

Carrying
the filth-soaked cloths, he went to the kitchen and dumped them into the
recycler before washing his hands. Crineal then collected two towels from a
drawer on his way through the bedroom to the bathroom. The shower cubicle was
filled with steam and he knocked on the door panel. The sound of the water cut
off and the door panel slid back. Crineal held out a towel for her. Cyndora
took it and wrapped it around herself affording him another partial view of her
body. But right now, it just didn’t feel sexy. Once she had the first towel
secure, she took the second one and wrapped her hair up in it.

“I’ll
leave you to dry off. I should go and check my messages,” Crineal said
indicating towards the lounge.

Cyndora
nodded, the towel on her head bobbing precariously. “But… leave the doors open…
please?”

Walking
through into the lounge, Crineal punched up his message list. There didn’t
appear to be anything urgent, just a few memos. That task completed he realized
he was hungry, but thought that some exercise first might be a good idea. A
rustling sound from the direction of the bedroom made him turn his head. Still
wrapped in a towel Cyndora stood in the doorway drying her hair. “I was
thinking that we could go to the gym and then come back for a nice leisurely
lunch… if you think your stomach is up to it?” he ventured.

A
moue of disgust wrinkled her face. “After I just showered? But yeah, I think
the exercise might help me settle and take my mind off things. I’ll get ready,”
and she disappeared back through the door.

“I’ll
wait until you’re done,” he called after her.

It
wasn’t long before she reappeared in her exercise gear. She looked a lot better
apart from the redness in her eyes. Crineal quickly changed and they headed off
to the gym. As they made their way there Cyndora waited until they were in an
empty corridor and then said quietly. “I’ve been a complete bitch these last
few days, haven’t I?”

“I
wouldn’t say that,” he replied cautiously.

“Oh?
And what would you say then?”

“I’d
say that I’m not required to give any answers that could incriminate me.”

Cyndora
punched his upper arm lightly. “Smart ass.” Glancing at her, Crineal could see
by the look in her eyes that she still pretty shaken, but trying to put on a brave
face. They arrived at the gym and put in a good forty-five minutes of workout.
Most of the pilots were currently on duty or on leave, so Crineal and Cyndora
weren’t approached and they headed back to his quarters to shower and eat.

With
her stomach still a little unsettled, Cyndora’s lunch was just a light salad.
Crineal was less affected and made up for missing breakfast by tucking into
soup and salad along with a hearty ham sandwich.

Once
it was all cleared away he checked the time. “I need to go and visit med bay.”

The
look on Cyndora’s face told him that she didn’t want to be left alone right now,
but all she said was “Oh, ok.”

Thinking
about it, he wandered over to his data access panel and had a quick look at the
regs regarding recreation assistants. They weren’t allowed to go anywhere
without permission, outside of the dorm and recreation areas. But that was it.
As long as they were accompanied or given authorization, they could go anywhere
but security areas. “Want to come with me?”

Her
face lit up. “Really?”

“Sure,
you’ll need to get changed I’m afraid.” After her shower, she’d gone back to
wearing her long pants and top.

Cyndora
bounced to her feet. “That’s ok, it’ll only take a minute,” and with that she
practically ran into the bedroom, emerging just a few minutes later in her
short toga uniform. As she adjusted it she looked up at Crineal. “You know,
after seeing that crystal, having to wear this doesn’t seem that bad.” Her face
was somber.

Crineal
nodded, sadness in his eyes. “It put a lot of things in perspective for me.”
Straightening up a little he palmed the door open. “Let’s go.”

When
they arrived at medical section Crineal found that only one bed was occupied. Lieutenant
Feldea’s head turned towards him as he entered and she smiled before a puzzled
expression crossed her face as she saw Cyndora follow Crineal in.

“Lieutenant,
have the good captains managed to escape?” he asked jovially.

“Yes,
Sir. I think they finally managed to find a bribe big enough for Doctor Marrash
this morning. He says it might still be another two weeks for me. Captain
Saymes and Treynar both said to give you their regards.”

Catching
the constant flicker of her brown eyes towards Cyndora, he thought he’d better
introduce them. “Lieutenant, this is Assistant Cyndora; she’s been assigned to
me from recreation. Cyndora, this is Lieutenant Feldea. She was wounded in a
battle the day before you came on board.” Turning back to his injured officer,
Crineal smiled. “She asked if she could accompany me to visit you.” It perhaps
wasn’t the absolute truth with regard to Cyndora’s motives, but putting it that
way couldn’t hurt.

“Pleased
to meet you, Ma’am. The general is always checking in with med bay. I know he’s
been very worried.”

The
copper-haired redhead on the bed looked at the chestnut-haired one standing
next to Crineal, and then back to him. General Crineal shrugged. “What can I
say? I’m a mother hen.”