Different Paths (3 page)

Iaido looked at the timestamp on the message.
“Hmmm… nearly eight hours ago. That would’ve been useful information before we
entered hyperspace.”

The timestamp on the next message placed it almost
seven and a half hours old. The scene was a dark room with military plaques and
awards hanging in the background. It was the Sergeant Major and Diana was
right, he did look old.

“Shit! Achilles, this is the Sergeant Major. I
need you! Contact me as soon as you get this message. You know it’s urgent or I
wouldn’t have called. I have a bounty and I need your help. It could be a
matter of life or death, old friend.”

Tapping the controls to pause the image, Iaido
studied the face of his friend. Yes he had aged, it happens to normals but the
look in his friend’s eyes was fear. Having served with the sergeant major under
some very stressful circumstances, he had never seen that look in his eyes.
Plus, he wouldn’t have used his old codename unless he was afraid someone was
listening and needed to get a warning out.

“Pax, place a return call and let me know when you
get through.”

“Affirmative.”

Iaido tapped the controls to play the last
message; the text message flashed across his screen.

‘I AM IN NEED OF YOUR SERVICES. VISIT ME UPON YOUR
ARRIVAL. SENSEI’

“Pax, double check all sensor readings; notify me
of any anomalies no matter how small or insignificant they seem.”

“Affirmative.”

Iaido climbed the ladder which led up to the crew
cabins and paused at the first door. Tapping the controls to gain entry, the door
slid back to reveal a room covered with strands of white fibers which stretched
from deck to ceiling and bulkhead to bulkhead. In the center was a seven foot
tall cocoon. A dark shape could occasionally be seen moving inside.

“Pax, any change?”

“Negative. Life signs are nominal but no change in
status.”

Iaido moved to the large cocoon, placed his hands
gently on the form inside and whispered, “How much longer, my friend? I have a
feeling that I’m going to need your help in the days to come.”

Iaido secured the cabin door before moving back down
the ladder to the dojo. Pausing at a small altar, he lit two sticks of incense
and ceremoniously waved them over each shoulder before placing them on the
altar. He sat down in the lotus position with legs crossed with his feet on the
top of thighs, cleared his mind and relaxed; content to await his arrival to
Starbase Alpha.

Chapter 4

Lieutenant Charles Kristopher moved through the
crowded starport with an easy confident gait. His khaki slacks, black loafers
and bright red polo shirt were a sharp contrast to his ebony skin. He could’ve
been just one of a thousand people moving though the starport if he wasn’t
accompanied by five SWAT officers in full tactical armor.

He glanced at the people moving aimlessly through
the Starbase; most ignored them, they were too busy with their own lives to
wonder what a SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) team was doing here.

Starbase Alpha boasted three hundred thousand
residents who lived and worked on the edge of space on a daily basis. This was
just one of five floating fortresses that were in geo-synchronistic orbit
around Earth. Starbase Alpha was the closest to the eastern seaboard of North
America hovering almost directly above the decimated region that once was New York
City. Most space traffic that was heading to this region came through here so
it wasn’t uncommon to see ground forces. However, it was uncommon to have them
in full tactical gear but few citizens did more than glance at the group.

Lt. Kristopher knew that his escort was entirely
for show. Their destination was already staked out and under surveillance by
the rest of the SWAT-Four and SWAT-Six teams. He heard a voice on the tac-net (tactical
network) through the cybernetic implant in his left ear.

“All units be advised that Starship Nemesis has
just received clearance for docking in landing bay five.”

Lt. Kristopher keyed his sub-vocal mic, another
cybernetic implant, but this one on his vocal chords and asked, “ETA?”

He knew that his transmission would be tagged with
an identifier visible to all SWAT members in their tactical armor that it was
him asking.

“Five minutes, sir.”

Slipping on a set of mil-spec glasses, it only
took a few seconds for the glasses to interface with his cybernetic implants
and the HUD popped up on the edge of his vision. He knew that the three SWAT
teams assigned to this detail would be entering a high-stress situation and he
hated to compound their stress but experience had taught him to leave few
things to chance.

Keying his transmission to broadcast on the team-wide
tac-net Lt. Kristopher said, “All units are to hold positions and weapons on
safe. This is a no-fire situation. I say again, a no-fire situation. You are
not authorized to fire unless fired upon. All units confirm no-fire order.”

His HUD switched to green as all units responded
with confirmation of the no-fire order. He knew that a few members weren’t
happy about it but being good little grunts they would follow orders, or at
least he hoped they would. He didn’t want to experience another friendly fire
incident like those that he’d lived through during the war.

As they entered the hangar Sgt. Hamilton, the most
junior SWAT sergeant in his escort, broke the silence. “El-tee, I know this
Spartan fellow is a friend of yours but your no-fire order is very unorthodox.”

Lt. Kristopher did a quick check of his HUD to
confirm that they were on their local channel and not team-wide before replying.
“You are correct but until you experience a blue-on-blue situation, you don’t
have the right to question a no-fire order.”

“Blue-on-blue?”

The commander of SWAT-Six Lieutenant Dominic
Palummo answered. “It’s military jargon for friendly fire. We lost numerous
troops and ships during the war to friendly fire. After the unfortunate destruction
of the Arizona there was a standing order for any call of blue-on-blue to be
grounds for immediate cease-fire.”

 “Aye-aye sir,” said Sgt. Hamilton. “I wasn’t
questioning the El-tee’s right to give the order; I was trying to understand
the need for it?”

Lt. Kristopher looked over his shoulder at the
SWAT commander. “He’s your sergeant.”

“True,” Lt. Palummo replied, “but this bounty
hunter is your friend and you did give the order.”

“Fair enough.” Lt. Kristopher turned his attention
back to the warship which was taxiing to a docking space nearby. Seeing they
still had about a minute before it docked he explained, “I gave the order for
two reasons. One, I don’t want any trigger-happy grunt to accidentally shoot
our prisoner or my friend.”

The Nemesis came to a smooth stop a hundred feet
away.

Sgt. Hamilton asked, “And the second?”

While they waited for the gangplank to be lowered
to the hangar deck, Lt. Kristopher turned to the young SWAT Sergeant. “If there
was an accidental misfire and a round just happened to be near my friend
Spartan or his prisoner before we assumed custody, I would have to explain to
that officer’s next of kin why he died.”

Sgt. Hamilton shook his head slightly. “I don’t
understand sir.”

“Let me be blunt. If someone takes a shot at
Spartan, there wouldn’t be a damn thing that anyone in this hangar could do to
stop him from killing that individual.”

As the gangplank touched the hangar deck and the
hatch opened, a fully armored figured stepped into view. Even to the SWAT
officers, the bounty hunter looked daunting. His armor was primarily black and
silver with highlights of scarlet. It seemed to be form-fitting and more
anatomically correct than the bulky SWAT armor. Although his face was hidden by
an opaque dome, a floating skull seemed to grin at the officers. His hands were
empty at the moment but several weapons, including twin blasters at his hips
and the hilt of a sword were clearly visible and within easy reach. 

After a moment Sgt. Hamilton added, “But sir… he’s
only a bounty hunter?”

“That might be his job for the moment but that isn’t
who he is and trust me sergeant, you don’t ever want to be on his bad side.”

*   *   *   *   *

Iaido paused at the top of the gangplank and
scanned the landing bay visually and with the electronic sensors in his combat
armor. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary but that didn’t mean anything. The
scan showed that there were at least thirty androids in the landing bay and
twenty-three humans. Judging from their readings all but five of the humans had
combat augments. The androids and four of the humans were concentrated around
the nine other starships parked in this hangar bay. Iaido could assume that
they were doing numerous maintenance tasks on those ships, although he knew
that assumptions were the mother-of-all screw-ups.

“Pax, any unusual comm traffic in the area?”

“Affirmative. There are numerous shielded
transmissions from all corners of this hangar.”

“Probably the SWAT tac-net. Can you crack it?”

“Negative. It is encrypted and they are using
burst transmissions which are difficult to localize and track.”

“And you can’t crack their encryption? I’m
shocked.”

Pax’s monotone voice didn’t fully hide the sarcasm
in her answer. “I mis-spoke. I answered the unspoken portion of your question
which was if I could crack their encryption in the amount of time it takes you
to descend the gangplank. Since it will take you exactly nine point three
seconds to descend, there is insufficient time to localize and crack the
encrypted transmissions.”

“It’s okay Pax. I wasn’t questioning your
capabilities.” Seeing the approaching police escorts, Iaido became serious.
“Run your diagnostics and let Jay’s techs know what you need.”

“Affirmative.”

Moving down the gangplank, Iaido spotted his
friend and noted that he was flanked by five heavily armed grunts in black
combat suits with SWAT emblazed across their chest in white.

Lt. Kristopher was his old XO, military jargon for
Executive Officer, usually the second in command of a military unit but had
become one of his closest friends after the war and one of the few people Iaido
really trusted.

Iaido’s HUD was busy displaying information about
the SWAT grunts.

Each had combat augments to enhance speed and
reaction time but was within the legal limits set by the Coalition for law
enforcement officers, greater than those allowed to civilians but far below
those allowed for the military. Each SWAT officer carried the latest police
issued ‘Riot Rifle’ commonly referred to as the R-Gun. It was a combination
weapon of less-than lethal and lethal technology; with an ultrasonic blast for
rendering unruly subjects unconscious, a lightning blast to disable augmented
humans, advanced pepper spray for crowd control and two-hundred rounds of
lethal force in the form of 5mm railgun ammo.    

With a signal from his friend, the SWAT escort
halted fifty feet from the Nemesis and took up a watchful but defensive stance.
Iaido realized they were trying to scan him to get an idea what they were
facing. Of course, he knew they weren’t receiving any type of reading about him
or his armor. His ARC Suit --Assault-Recon-Combat-- was far more advanced than
theirs. Being ex-military issue it had no discernible pattern or reflective
surfaces. It was made from the finest alloys available and was protection
against most ballistic weapons and all forms of non-lethal technology. Powered
by a small anti-matter generator, it had an array of electronic marvels; HUD,
scanners, jammers, comms and an onboard weapon system. It truly was a
self-contained assault weapon in itself.

Lt. Kristopher stepped forward. “Iaido you old
warhorse!”

Activating the external speakers, Iaido’s voice
was slightly hollow when he replied. “Hello KC.”

Lt. Palummo asked over the local SWAT tac-net.
“KC? Where did you get that nickname?”

Kristopher answered over their local channel. “In
the military, everything is last name first, first name last. So I was known
more often as Kristopher - Charles or KC.” Turning his attention back to his
friend Kristopher asked, “Don’t you ever take that damn armor off?”

“Typically…but not when I’m transporting cargo.”

Lt. Palummo’s voice once again asked over their
local channel. “Cargo?”

It was Sgt. Hamilton who answered. “Bounty Hunters
commonly refer to their prisoners as ‘marks’ before capture and ‘cargo’
afterwards. I supposed it helps dehumanize the targets in their minds.”

“How do you know that Hammy?”

“College classes in Criminal Justice Psychology.
You would be amazed at some of the facts I have rolling around in my head.”

“Ssshhh,” came a voice tagged with Lt. Kristopher’s
identifier.

Iaido took a moment to study his old friend as he
talked in the private SWAT channel.

KC still looked to be in good shape. His ebony
skin betrayed his Caribbean ancestry while his short dark hair and mustache
were beginning to show a bit of gray at the temples.

After a moment, Iaido gestured toward the escorts.
“Who are the grunts?”

Glancing back, Kristopher shrugged his shoulders.
“Guard dogs. Your bounty has ruffled a few feathers around here. We’ve had calls
from just about everyone he ever swindled. Any problems getting here?”

“Just the JDL. They tried to bounty jump me as I
exited hyperspace.”

“We were afraid of that. They have become more
aggressive over the last few months. I’ll have to contact the Galactic Marshals
about them…again.” Kristopher shook his head to clear it. “But that is my
concern; not yours. So, where is this scumbag?”

Iaido moved to the stern of his ship and pointed
at a hatch. “Right here.”