Adventures of a Greenie (Vol 1)
All rights reserved Vanessa Ravencroft
Chapter 19: The Legend is Really True
Roy never really thought he would ever meet the Eternal Warrior, the man Uncle Sam respected so much, and now he was sitting across from the legendary man and was questioned. Stahl appeared to be a normal human being but Roy’s back hair stood on end whenever he looked into the eyes of that man. It was just as if staring into deep space.
The legendary Admiral wasn’t exactly friendly and his voice had a razor sharp edge. Cara had left to talk with the Wurgus delegates. Ship crew was starting with the clean up, while Marines and men in black fleet uniforms removed the dead pirates, but not before making detailed forensic records.
Stahl sat there with his legs crossed, his left arm on the table and the other resting in his lap.
Roy once again felt abandoned and everything was far above his head. He was just a Greenie, why was he grilled by an Immortal Admiral? To him it almost seemed as if the Admiral suspected him to be responsible for what happened.
Stahl said. “Tell me again how you managed to survive as a child in those jungles? I have been there when they cleared Anthill island and lost good marines there. I’ve seen my share of strange worlds, son but that world takes the cake.”
Roy started to get angry. “You know what, Sir. I am beginning to not give a hoot what you want to know, what you believe, or what you think about me or my home world. If you don’t like Green Hell then stay away from it. Well it happens to be my home world and I find it more appealing the longer I am forced to stay away from it.”
Stahl raised and eyebrow at this emotional outburst but before the Immortal could respond Cara had returned.
“Admiral, Sir. He tells the truth and he is very close to an emotional melt down. He lost his parents, tossed into a situation that is far beyond his age and experience level.”
Stahl gave Roy a long look. “Yes I think I was giving you a hard time. I apologize for insulting your home world, but you must understand I don’t like mysteries that involve pirates, the Kermac and brazen raids so deep in Union Space.”
Roy clenched his fists. “Sir, what do you think I want? I want to know why a pirate knew my name and why my parents died. I’ve never seen anyone of them before.”
Cara reached out and held him by the shoulders. “I am certain the woman who fired the Rocket launcher was psi influenced, Kermac Style. Somewhere aboard this vessel is a Kermac I am certain.”
Stahl sighed. “Sadly we can’t simply line everyone up and scan them, but I am sure we can increase controls at the Checkpoints.”
A blue skinned Thauran in black uniform came running and came to a skidding halt before the old Admiral and saluted. “Sir, I have urgent news. General Lichfangh wanted me to let you know right away.”
“What is it Lt. Kowyn?”
“Sir, the news reported that an Immortal was murdered. A man named Phil Decker.”
The face of the Admiral remained unreadable and he said. “Thank you Lieutenant.”
To Roy he said. “I’ll keep an eye on you Mr. Masters.”
Then he turned and left. Roy had so many questions and wanted to ask what he knew about Partner but the famous Admiral wasn’t as Uncle Sam described him.
Cara said to Roy. “Don’t judge him just yet, Roy. He might have been a little stern but he is integrity incarnate.”
Roy sighed deeply. “He might be that, but to me he appeared to be arrogant and a little self important if you ask me. He is just like the rest, claiming to know Green Hell and they all know nothing.”
She put a hand on his shoulder. “Come on my angry warrior, I think you and I need to finish our dinner and I am sure the McDonald’s two decks below is already serving again.”
Riddick
The situation could not have been more bizarre and unreal to them. The black dressed assailants turned out to be Federal Police Officers just like them. Riddick and the Saresii Lieutenant had been arrested and transported inside a genuine Police Cruiser to a holding facility, that was not inside the big Precinct station but in a nondescript building still on Blue Moon.
They both had been stripped and micro searched and scanned. Through it all no one was talking to them. No one was responding to their questions, their pleas or curses.
Now they wore one of the most demeaning and controversial inventions of the Union Society, the transparent IntelliPlast prisoner suit. This suit covered a prisoner from head to toe in a soft malleable plastic, that was quite comfortable to wear, but virtually indestructible. It was also completely transparent, except for the collar control piece and the suit environment system belt. The suits were better than any actual holding cell. They could be made rigid, virtually freezing a prisoner in place, they could bond with seats, bunks or walls, prevent any suicide attempt and keep the prisoner healthy with an integrated Auto Doc. The suit did not need to be taken off for any reason, the suit recycled and managed body waste products as well. Once inside a suit, most prisoners lost all hope and even the most violent and rough individual usually became quite tame.
These suits were able to hold Pertharians and Saturnians, neutralized Psionic abilities and were the best thing in the eyes of anyone who managed prisoners. However wearing them was a completely different story.
There might have been a time when Riddick would have liked to see his Saresii boss in a transparent suit but right now he didn’t even want to see her naked and wanted to protect her, but then their captors didn’t pay much attention to that fact either.
How long it all took he could not say but finally he found himself suit bonded to a sturdy metal chair in a completely bare white room with a solid metal table before him.
A man in Federal Police Officers uniform came in and sat at the other side. Riddick had never seen the man before and judging by the large black eyes and the white skin was a Maltyran. The man sat down and looked at Riddick with those large eyes and then said. “Who else is working with you?”
Riddick did not want to cooperate and said. “I want to see my representative.”
“No worries Mr. Riddick you are soon on your way back to Recksnostal Colony and perhaps you can go back as the Precinct leader. We know how much you despised that young Lieutenant, a Saresii cross dresser and pervert of all things. I believe those were the words you used.”
Riddick said. “I was wrong about her and I was wrong about my own decision to become a Police Officer. If our police is as rotten as it seems it is, I rather be dead than be a police officer.”
The man laughed. “Oh you are so refreshingly naive.”
Riddick tried to calm down and actually think as Phil always told them to do and he said. “You are not Federal Police, but you have access to all equipment and information. You are spooks!”
The Maltryan leaned back. “Maybe you are not as dense, but still you are way over your head in something that is of no concern of the police. Now tell me, who was with you when you went to that warehouse?”
Riddick shrugged. “You know everything else, then you should know that we came alone.”
The Maltyran became angry and slammed his hand on the table. “Dead bodies don’t move by themselves. There was someone else with you and we must know who took Decker’s body.”
Cherubim
She was watching the interrogation over a field screen and then turned. “They don’t know. All research spoke of Decker, the Saresii and that Sergeant. We watched them when they went to the warehouse. There was no one.”
Next to the woman, stood a muscular man and he said. “I searched everywhere, his body was nowhere and it was I who shot him and saw him die.”
“We really need his body.”
“Maybe someone teleported the body out? Decker fought like a Grey Cat Demon from the First Age of Knowledge, maybe he had some Saresii back up?”
The woman turned away from the screen. She was tall blond and her face was hidden behind a flesh colored mask. “He spend more than 500 years on Sares and he trained with the finest Grey Cats. Why do you think I wanted you to be there, but there was no Psionic activity, I would know.”
“He had a fist sized hole in his chest where his heart was, no one crawls even an inch with a lethal wound like that, besides I did check everywhere.”
“We must find his body.”
A second field screen came on with a highly secured transmission and an old man in Admiral’s Uniform came on. He said. “I don’t know how it happened but Stahl knows Decker is dead and he is on his way, much sooner than expected. Are you sure you can fool him and make it stick on those two scapegoat cops?”
The masked face showed no reaction but for the first time in a very long time she did not feel very confident. The Old Warrior was not an espionage expert like she was, he was not nearly as old as she was but he still was the only being she truly respected and if she was honest to herself, Stahl was the only one Cherubim feared. If he ever found out even a fraction of what she had done, there would be no place to hide. Stahl was like a blood hound and would follow the faintest trail and then like a bulldog bite and not let go until the job was done. Stahl had his very own intelligence network, not based on spies or computronics but on a vast number of utmost loyal beings who would gladly die for him. A fact she always greatly admired. On top of it there was Alycia Lichfangh the General of the PSI Corps, officially from Sares. Of course Cherubim knew she was really from an elusive group called the Coven. As enigmatic and almost as powerful as the Narth. No one, not even Cherubim the Queen of lies and deception could do anything but speak the truth when in Alycia’s presence. Something she needed to avoid at all cost.
To the Old Admiral she said. “Is he bringing the Coven Witch along?”
McElligott spread his hands. “I can’t say but she has a habit of being there when he needs her, no matter the distance. Cherubim, clean up and get out of there.”
Cherubim terminated the call.
The man next to her said. “We were so close to unravel the Kermac Spy Network inside the Union and these bumbling Cops started to ruin everything. Doesn’t this Stahl understand that we have to fight as dirty to keep the Rats out?”
Cherubim shook her head. “No Marlo, Stahl does not. To him there is only one way to deal with the Kermac, openly declare war and wipe them out for good and thus eliminating the Spy problem.”
The man she called Marlo, Commandant of the most secretive Union Organization that existed was a carefully designed clone and represented the pinnacle of Union gene and cyber-technical achievement clenched his gloved fist. “Of all beings he should understand that the Kermac are only one of many enemies of our Union and that not all fights can be won with cannons and battleships.”
Cherubim sighed. “That is why the Guardian has chosen me to do the real dirty work. He is in the spot light and the one who wears the shiny armor. The one who sees everything in black and white and I am cursed to stay in the shadows for so long that I have long forgotten who I once really was.
“What about this Decker, why did we terminate him? Could he not be won to our side?”
Cherubim shook her head. “Decker was not chosen or made immortal by the Guardian. He and a small group of Humans received their immortality from another entity. Even I don’t know much about it. Decker was a police man who believed in the validity of the Law. While I would not have decided to terminate him for a little Kermac scheme, but he was as good in his field as I am in mine and he would eventually have found our involvement. Under no circumstance can it be ever allowed that the existence of MIRAGE is uncovered.”
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