Different Paths (23 page)

“A mob is like a fire. Once started, it is hard to
put out but even a fire needs a spark. The leader or spokesperson is the one
that starts the mob moving forward. By killing that young braggart before he
got the crowd riled up, I stopped the mob from forming, which in turn stopped
me from having to kill anyone else.”

A broad-shouldered man with a friendly round face
stepped up to the table. “And there would’ve been more trouble. The word is out.
You could make someone a very rich man. Your bounty has been raised to one and
a quarter million credits, dead or alive.”

“Hello DJ.” Iaido lifted the second mug of beer
and held it out.

DJ took the offered beer and slid into the booth
across from the bounty hunter. “I get the impression that the emphasis was on
dead.”

“Any leads on who’s paying the bounty?”

“Nope.” DJ took a long swig on his beer. “Just
that your right hand is the required proof for payment.” Setting down his beer,
DJ offered his own hand to the beautiful Sylvan. “Pardon my manners ma’am,
Staff Sgt. Scott DeJarnette - UNCF Strike Forces. Retired of course but my
friends just call me DJ.”

Taking the offered hand, Talia let her mystical
powers momentarily flow through her connection and into the newcomer.
Physically, she felt the roughness of a working man’s grip, while mystically
she felt a gentle soul who has seen and done evil in his life but one that was
always striving for the greater good. Recalling her powers, Talia graced him
with a dazzling smile. “I take it that you two are friends?”

Still scanning the crowd Iaido said, “We served
together.”

“You were in Omega?”

DJ shook his head. “No. Although we fought on many
a battlefield together and assisted Omega on several missions, I was referring
to the time we served together in New Leavenworth.”

“Time? How can you serve time?”

Although slightly annoying at times, Iaido was
getting used to explaining the complexities and nuances of the human language
to the Sylvan. It brought back memories of his early years. Fresh from the pod,
the SPARTANs were fully capable and deadly soldiers but completely naïve when
interacting with regular troops. If people like Master Chief Kirk and Sgt.
Major Spenton hadn’t been patient in explaining humor, sarcasm and analogies he
was certain that he would still be friendless.

“It’s a Terran phrase for being incarcerated.”

Talia turned back to Iaido. “New Leavenworth? You
mentioned that place once before while we were back on Terra. What is it?”

It was DJ which answered. “Hard time. It’s a military
prison on Eris. We worked twelve hour shifts making big rocks into little rocks
then moving them from point A to point B.”

“And you both were imprisoned in this place?”

DJ nodded. “Yep.”

“What for?”

DJ shrugged. “I was originally charged with murder
of my commanding officer.”

Talia sat back and shifted her head slightly.

DJ waved his hands. “It’s not what you think. Did
I kill my commanding officer? Yes. Was it justified? Yes. My unit was in combat
on this little mudball of a planet. Our orders were to hold our position. When
the Confederates attacked, our commanding officer dropped his weapon and ran.
Since he was the only person with a radio capable of reaching Fleet, I shot
him.”

“And you were found guilty?”

DJ shook his head. “No. I was cleared by a
military tribunal but unfortunately, the officer was the son of a Council
member, so I was dishonorably discharged for failure to obey orders and
sentenced to two years in new Levenworth.”

Talia turned her attention on Iaido. “And you?”

“You want the charges or the truth?”

“The truth of course.”

Setting down his beer, Iaido turned slightly to
look Talia in her eyes. “After we were rescued, the General needed someone to
blame for the debacle on Gilese. Since I was the last SPARTAN and the only
surviving Myrmidon, I became the scapegoat. During the court martial, as they
began to call off the names of all my brothers who died defending the pass, I
lost my temper and attacked the General. Luckily, I only scarred him instead of
killing him. However, since the court martial was being broadcast over the
Galactic news-link my sentence was swift.” 

DJ’s laughter burst forth as he slapped the table
nearly spilling his beer. “That was the greatest thing I had ever seen! The
whole yard went nuts. We were on lockdown for a week after that incident.”

“What does lockdown mean?” asked Talia.

“Our privileges were curtailed for a week; other
than mandatory labor, we were locked in our cells for the entire week, no
exercise, no mail, no news, no vids, nothing.” DJ took another long swig of his
beer and set down his empty mug. “Don’t you Sylvan’s have prisons?”

Talia shook her head. “No. I have never even heard
of the concept of locking a person up for committing a crime. It’s barbaric.
How can placing criminals together for a period of time help the individual?”

Iaido asked, “What do your people do to
criminals?”

“We only have three punishments on Sylvanis;
restitution, expulsion or re-education.”

“I understand the concept of restitution, paying
someone back for an item and expulsion, being kicked out. This is the second
time you have mentioned re-education, what exactly do you mean by it?” asked Iaido.

Sipping her beer for the first time, Talia
grimaced at the bitter flavor. “Yuck! How horrible!”

Eying his empty mug, DJ reached over and pulled
Talia’s full one to himself. “It’s an acquired taste.”

“Obviously,” Talia pulled out her tarot cards and
began to idly fiddle with them. “The whole process of re-education is a closely
guarded secret but basically the Empire wipes the mind clear of all memories,
implants new lawful ones and reintroduces the citizen to society.”

Iaido said, “And you think locking criminals up is
barbaric! Our way might not be perfect but after the offender serves his or her
time, they are let out. Once again free to make choices, right or wrong it’s
their choice to make. Your way takes away their personality, their being. It
isn’t natural.”

“Natural? We turn them into productive citizens of
the Empire. They made their choice; they had their chance to do right but chose
to do wrong. We just give them a second chance to be good citizens by
re-education.”

“By what standard do you measure a person? By
their bloodlines? A person is the sum of their actions and their memories. Our
memories guide our actions; our actions determine our choices and our choices
affect the future. We are nothing but the sum of our experiences.”

DJ’s eyebrows tightened into a scowl. “Spartan, we
have company.”

Talia and Iaido turned from their conversation to
witness the crowd part like the Red Sea to reveal a large Mantodea at the end
of the bar. Standing well over eight feet tall with a blood red carapace his
shoulders had to be close to four feet wide. He wore twin bandoliers crossed
over his shoulders and the hilts of four swords could be seen.

As Iaido slid out of the booth, the Mantodea bowed
his head slightly and spoke in their chirping language.  Iaido muttered, “This
is going to hurt.”

Talia desperately grabbed his arm and asked, “What
did he say?”

Iaido bowed his head to his opponent. “It is a
traditional greeting of warriors; roughly translated he said, ‘it is my honor
to meet you on this field of death.’ It is a challenge to honorable combat,
blade to blade, warrior to warrior.”

“You are expected to meet that monster blade to blade?
Just shoot the beast!”

“I cannot. It wouldn’t be honorable.”

“Is death honorable?”

“Depends. There was an ancient Terran bard named
Shakespeare who once wrote, ‘my honor is mine life’ – for a student of Bushido,
it is better to die honorably than to live shamelessly.” Turning back to his
friend he added, “Watch my back. I’m thinking that this would be a good time
for an ambush. Someone knew I could not or would not refuse this challenge.”

Iaido reached out his right arm and the two
friends clasped forearms in an ancient embrace of the warrior.

“Aye..aye. I’ve got it.”

“I know you do. You were one of the reasons I came
to Haven.”

DJ raised an eyebrow. “You knew I was here?”

“You would be surprised at the information Diana
could find on the core-net.”

As Iaido moved to the center of the room, he
absentmindedly noted that several Wardens were present. They weren’t taking an
active role, just watching and making sure their boss got a cut from the
wagering. The huge Mantodea reached up and looped his front pincers into
specially designed blades which attached themselves to the appendage giving its
pincers a cutting edge on three-sides. With his lower two arms he pulled out a
pair of wickedly curved blades which roughly resembled a large sickle. With a
slight nod of his head, the Mantodea began moving the four blades in a complex
pattern; weaving one set of blades inside the other set.

Iaido calmly drew both swords, powered up his
lightning blade and walked toward the larger bug.

The bar patrons edged backwards slightly and the
odd-makers began calling for bets. Even as Iaido started slipping into his
warrior mindset, the sounds of a scuffle behind him reached his ears.

Risking a glance backwards, Iaido saw two thugs
standing over DJ’s prone form.

Some second sense or instinct warned him of danger
and without conscious thought, Iaido dropped to his stomach as two of the Mantodea’s
four blades sliced the air where he had been a mere fraction of a second
before. Releasing his grip on his own swords, Iaido pushed himself up on his
hands and lashed out with both feet. Striking the large bug in the chest, the
unconventional attack caught the large mantis off guard and knocked him
backwards into the crowd.

Shifting to a kneeling position, Iaido drew both Gravers
Mk7s and fired off two shots at the thugs hovering over his friend. Both dropped
wordlessly with fist sized holes in their chests. Holstering his guns, Iaido
turned as the huge Mantodea stepped back into the center of the bar.

Iaido picked up both blades, slowly stood up and
sheathed his swords. Turning his back on the large mantis Iaido began to walk
away until the bug once again chirped his challenge. Surreptitiously, he drew a
knife and turned back to face his adversary. As the Mantodea began to weave his
blades again, Iaido cocked his head to the side for a moment and with a flick
of his wrist, he let fly the knife. The eight inches of polished steel flashed
through the air to imbed itself right between the eyes of the Mantodea warrior.

Iaido moved to the body of his friend and checked
his pulse; it was strong but considering the knot on his head, he knew that DJ
was going to be out of commission for some time.

Iaido glanced at the bodies. There were five of
them; the two that he had killed, two with snapped necks and one with a small
and precise hole in the center of his chest that he realized was from Talia’s
Rapier X-10.

Without wasting any more time, Iaido took off
after Talia’s kidnappers. Since they only had less than a minute lead, it was
easy following them through the heavy pedestrian traffic that plagued this area
of Haven. However, once they entered the lower levels it became increasingly
more difficult. But the bowels of the station were the home of the most rundown
sections where the scum and homeless of Haven congregated just so happened to
be some of best locations for information. Iaido knew every passageway and
compartment in this area.

Rounding a bend, Iaido had to pull up short when
he found Talia standing in an old cafeteria surrounded by six thugs. Five of
them had guns pointing at her head, while the sixth stepped away from his
companions and said, “Greetings Spartan. So glad you could join us.”

Iaido rested his hands on the grips of his pistols.
“You didn’t have to go through all this; you could’ve just asked me to join
you.”

The leader said, “That’s enough. One false move
and I’ll blow the elf’s head off.”

Iaido slowly raised his hands.

The thug leader continued. “I want you to slowly,
and I mean slowly… like molasses in wintertime, unstrap your gunbelt and let it
fall to the floor.”

Sensing more than seeing, Iaido knew that several
men had moved in behind him to seal off the trap. Glancing over his shoulder,
Iaido counted another six thugs behind him, making it twelve to one.

Those were not good odds, especially with Talia in
the middle. However, the leader was waiting for him to answer and any hooligan
who would rather talk before an ambush was a fool. By hesitating the bandits
had lost the advantage. Iaido moved with exaggerated slowness, reached over and
undid the buckle on his gunbelt. Letting his Graver Mk7s fall to the floor, he
could hear the snickers of the thugs behind him.

Iaido kept his focus on the leader as he said,
“Okay. You have my guns, now let the girl go. She has nothing to do with this.”

The five thugs holstered their weapons at a nod
from the leader as he roughly shoved Talia forward.

The thug leader flashed a smile that displayed his
rotted teeth. “True… but she will become a casualty of war, just like you did
with Boog.” The name rhymed with fog.

“Who was that?” asked Iaido.

“Just my fastest gunhand which you killed back in
Nick’s Place,” Toothless explained.

“Ah…the young braggart that fancied himself a
gunslinger.”

Toothless nodded. “It’s nothing personal, just
business.”

Iaido recognized his opening. “Business? Twelve to
one? You twelve are going to gun down two unarmed people and that is business?
Sounds more like murder to me.”

Toothless’ face turned red with barely controlled
rage. “Hey! We don’t murder anyone. There’s a bounty on your head.”