Unity

Chapter 34

A half hour after our escape, Sergeant Collins walked into the bridge and said, "The prisoners are stirring, they should be awake soon."

"This ought to be fun," I replied. I walked to the rear of the ship where Shahae and Zalix were strapped into two of the seats along the wall. They were restrained in a way that kept their hands in their laps but restricted most movement. I watched impassively as Zalix woke up and began struggling, and as much as I wanted to walk up and beat him, I wanted more to see how he would react to his confinement. The rear of the ship was silent where five of the marines were resting on the bunks. I felt exhausted as well, but I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep until we were safely aboard the Unity. Zalix's struggling seemed to rouse Shahae as well and she started struggling. They must have sensed each other because they both stopped struggling. I had forgotten that they could communicate using their nanites. Once we were on board the Unity, we would need to isolate them.

I watched as Zalix started testing the restraints on his hands. I stepped closer and pulled my rifle from its holster between my shoulders. The noise of the weapon being pulled and the high pitch whine it made as it charged was enough to make him freeze. They now knew they were being watched, and Shahae began pleading for help. The suit I wore had a built-in translator that could translate as people spoke. It did me no good on Zalix's ship but proved useful now. When her pleas for help went unanswered, Shahae started angrily shouting questions at us. She wanted to know who we were and what wanted, and when that produced no answers, she started making colorful threats. Not a word was said in reply. After several minutes, she started to get hysterical, and hysteria quickly led to her sobbing. I felt a powerful urge to comfort her, and I quickly buried the urge. I had no way of knowing where her loyalties lay.

I turned to Sergeant Collins and said, "Let me know if they try anything. Don't hesitate to shoot them again if they pose a threat."

"With pleasure," he replied. I walked to the bridge and collapsed into a seat, where I succumbed to exhaustion and fell into an uncomfortable sleep.

The sound of a weapon discharging ripped me from my sleep. I jumped to my feet feeling sore, lightheaded, and an urgent need to relieve my bladder all at once. Once I trusted myself to walk without falling on my face, I rushed to the back of the ship. I arrived as two marines were putting an unconscious Zalix back into his restraints. "What happened?" I asked a marine who had his weapon trained on our guests.

Without taking his eyes off Shahae and Zalix, or even lowering his gun, he replied, "Zalix somehow broke out of his restraints and attempted to attack us."

"How far did he get?" I asked.

The marine chuckled, "Almost a whole step."

"How long was I out?" I asked after a moment.

"Not sure" he replied. "I was sleeping as soon as we left. I do know that we are at the rendezvous point. We're just waiting for our ride."

I didn't realize I had slept for that long, but it did explain how stiff I felt. What I really wanted was to curl up in bed and not move for a week. I headed to the bridge, after making a quick detour to the restroom. Once that crisis was averted, I entered the bridge and asked, "Any word from the Unity?"

"Not yet," one of the pilots reported, but was interrupted before he could say more. "I take that back. Unity has just arrived. Preparing to dock."

"Pass a message to the Unity to jump as soon as possible," I ordered. "I don't want to stick around any longer than necessary."

I felt the jump drives engage as soon our ship touched the hangar floor. I called Commander Morozova and requested two interrogation rooms to be prepared with very specific requirements. With our prisoners restrained, there was nothing to do but wait until the rooms were ready.