Chapter 3: The Escape

Chapter 3: The Escape

"Now who exactly do we have here?" demanded a gruff male voice.

Dahgri swallowed the lump in her throat and slowly looked over her shoulder. “What are you talking about?” she asked, but her confidence died as she came face to face with the trooper. His blue-black suit was as harsh as his voice, and her eyes slowly dropped to the weapon in the holder strapped to his leg.

“Trying to jump on a secure uplink and lockout other terminals. Don’t bother denying it – it’s been traced to this unit already.” The trooper didn’t release his hold, but pulled her free of the terminal, dragging her toward the attendant. “I need an ID and I need it now,” he ordered the attendant.

Dahgri tried to wrench her arm away unsuccessfully as the attendant pulled out a hand unit and stepped closer. He ran the scanner over her left wrist and waited, but the unit only registered error. The trooper grabbed her other arm, presenting it to the man. Again the scanner registered error.

“Where you got it hiding, boy?” the trooper asked suspiciously. When Dahgri didn’t answer, he smiled. “Don’t think you can hide it forever. I’ll take you in, the body unit will find it quick enough, no matter where you had it implanted.” He grabbed her chin, turning her face to look at it. “Don’t remember seeing you on any of the sheets. But it doesn’t matter. You should have stuck to the lower districts. Don’t think any amount of family money will get you out of this one. Maybe we’ll have some fun on the way…”

Dag didn’t want to know what kind of fun that would be. Her eyes darted to the door. Three other troopers waited outside, blocking the entrance. No wonder Coco had never come to her rescue. She could see him now, standing across the street in the shadows of another building. She shook her head at him as the trooper pulled her toward the door.

The action didn’t stop him. He already had put himself into motion, making his way across the street with determination. He stumbled into the troopers as they moved to allow the one with Dahgri to exit the building. The first trooper took the brunt of the hit. He fell and never got up. The one beside him stumbled and fell. Rolling up onto his knee, he grabbed his weapon from its holster. Coco didn’t notice, he was already past the man, intent on reaching Dag.

She screamed as the weapon discharged, the pulse hitting Coco square in the back. A look of shock crossed his face as the energy pulse tore through Ferran flesh. He crumpled, his legs giving way as his spine shattered. The trooper’s grip lessened but Dahgri stared at Coco’s body as he lay slack in the sidewalk.

She barely noticed as two troopers lead her dumbstruck to a waiting vehicle and pushed her inside. Two remind behind, waiting for the clean-up crew that was called to retrieve the body. It wasn’t that Dahgri hadn’t seen people die before for because she had, lots of times. But never someone who was as close to her as Coco.

The ride to the detention center was quick and the troopers never talked to her along the way. Once they reached it though, and pulled her out again, they hit her with a mass of questions. They assumed she’d talk now that her partner was dead. They assumed she was part of some wealthy family just out having kicks. None of it was true. Dahgri stared at them in silence her body numb. White district crime was non-existent. Now she knew why.

Leading her to a small closet like room, the trooper shoved her in and closed the door, engulfing her in darkness. Her hands came up, frantically pushing at the door as claustrophobia set in. Light burst through the dark. She heard the unit hum as it came to life. It didn’t calm her any. She heard the trooper arguing with someone outside the door as she continued to bang on it.

The door opened suddenly, dumping her out into the real world again. The trooper stood there, a scowl on his face. He grabbed her arm, pinning her against the wall. Another trooper stood beside the first; this one had stripes on his uniform. He inspected Dahgri as the first trooper turned her around. “Process him…” the commander ordered.

“But, sir… what do I put down? The machine –”

“Process as much as you can. When the tech is back, he can run a system diagnostic, and then you can rescan the prisoner. Put him in a cell for now. Tech won’t be in until the next shift so he’ll have to wait until then,” the commander informed the trooper. Daghri snarled as they printed her hands and snapped a digi-photo of her. “Save the eye scan for when the machine has had a system check,” the commander said, wanting to be done with her. “The kid you pulsed was an unknown, no loss there. One less useless body for us to watch over…” Dahgri zoned out the rest of the discussion as they shoved her into a cell. She felt the force field come up behind her, locking her in.

She looked around at the other detainees who where already there. Hardcores -- she could tell from a single look. She had seen their types on the streets, parts of gangs and other circuits. Most were older than her and looked at her as if she were fresh meat. She turned around, catching the eye of the trooper who had brought her in. He smiled, waiting for her to talk. She didn’t have her Ferran bodyguard now. He figured she’d fold in seconds.

What he didn’t know was that Dag had lived on the streets and knew well how to handle herself. True, she didn’t spend her time with hardcores but she knew how to handle them. She threw a sweetboy kiss to the trooper and turned back to her cellmates. “That there trooper thinks you’re gonna show him the time of his life…” Dag commented to the nearest detainee, a Treg.

The hulk of a Treg turned from his inspection of Dahgri to look at the trooper. A smile crossed his dark face, showing sharp incisors. He towered over Dahgri, his sheer bulk nearly three times that of hers. They were the walking talking epitome of what humans once called demons before they had reached to the stars. “Is that so,” his deep voice bellowed. “I wouldn’t mind banging a trooper,” his words changed to laughter as the trooper blanched. Ducking her head, Dahgri watched as the trooper beat a careful retreat, realizing she wasn’t the game he thought she was. “I wouldn’t mind banging a slag either,” the Treg replied as his laughter died and he stepped in front of her.

“You try it – you’ll never get outta here,” Dag responded coolly.

“You think so, little man. They don’t care what happens to you in here.”

“That’s not what I said,” Dag interjected, ducking under the hand that reached out for her. “You want out – I’ll get you out. For a price…” Her thoughts turned to Coco. She knew her friend was dead – there was no surviving a pulse hit like that one. Coco had said Dament wanted off this rock and he wanted off now. That meant if she wanted a ticket out of here, she had to get out of this cell.

Laughter bellowed from the Treg again before slowly dying away. She had found a good tag in this one. His mood was much better than Dament. “What’s your price?” growled the Treg.

“You keep them away – and I’ll get you outta here… before the shift change,” Dag murmured.

The Treg advanced on her, backing her into the wall. She heard snickers from several of the others in the cell but no one stepped forward to join the heavy in assaulting her. “And how you gonna do that, slag?”

“Dag – the name’s Dag. If I’m gonna work with you, I gotta know your name.”

“You didn’t answer my question… Dag,” the Treg grumbled, placing a hand on her shoulder and pinning her to the wall.

“I know something about these here systems… interconnecting the cells together. There should be an interrogation room behind one of these panels. I can jump it,” Dag said softly, ignoring the fingers that were digging into her shoulder. It wasn’t something she had actually ever done before, but she figured it couldn’t be that much different than jumping an uplink.

“mmm… I’ve never heard a slag scream before…” the Treg mused, but she could tell from the look in his eye he was intrigued by her offer.

“Do we have a deal?” she asked, turning her head up to look at the towering hulk of a man who stood before her.

“Xenen.”

A smile quirked the corner of her mouth and her eyes strayed to the control panels on the walls. After a short inspection she decided one looked different than all the rest. “Can you get me over there, Xenen?” she asked discreetly with a nod of her head in the general direction she wanted to go.

With a shove, he sent her in the proper direction. Other detainees moved from her path as the Treg stalked after her, seemingly intent on his prey. He was the only heavy in this cell and that made a difference. No one was willing to step up and get in his way unless they had to. He followed her to the far wall, forcing her against it. His arm went around her waist as his feet kicked at hers. She followed the game only half paying attention. Her eyes remained glued on the control panel before her. Her hand came up to rest on the pad as she spread herself out up against the wall. “Take it easy,” she murmured, her fingers punching codes on the VR keys. She kept her body pressed against the response mic so that the sounds wouldn’t be heard by others. The beeps reverberated thorough her body as she worked, focusing her. She felt the Treg’s other hand as it began to roam over her body. She closed her eyes, hoping he wouldn’t discover her secret. She almost missed the fact that the keypad didn’t beep at her. She stopped suddenly, her eyes flickering to the console.

She jabbed the Treg to draw his attention. It took two jabs to make his hand stop searching her. Even the one around her waist had started wandering under her shirt, worrying her more. “Ready?” she asked, but didn’t wait for an answer as she unlocked the panel she was leaning against. She felt the lock give way and pushed back up against the Treg for a brief moment. The panels were keyed so that even if released they wouldn’t move unless they were free from obstruction. The pad blinked, counting down, Dahgri joined it silently in her mind -- five, four, three, two, one… the panel rose with incredible speed into a recess in the ceiling. Dahgri didn’t wait, but stepped across the threshold into the new cell and turned to the secondary pad on this side of wall. It only took two key strokes to close the panel again. The Treg was right behind her. She sensed him turn just as the panel came down but she didn’t care. She watched the stunned faces of her ex-detainees as she and Xenen were singled away from them into a smaller empty cell.

This was a holding cell, used for questioning detainees. The small private cell contained a long table and three chairs – all secured to the floor by magnetic fields. Dag didn’t care. She had her out. Stepping past Xenen who was still in a stunned state, she moved to the opposite wall again, to a new control pad.

“How’d you do that?” Xenen asked cautiously, finally following her across the room.

Dahgri shrugged. “Told you. I know these systems. They’re easy to jump.”

“You some kinda white district criminal?”

Dag snorted. “There’s no such thing.”

“You code these things? Or someone close to you – they give you the door keys?” Xenen asked, not letting up.

“No. I’m just good with computers. We have a kind of mutual understanding. They do what I tell ‘em, and I don’t rip ‘em apart.” The keypad blinked, counting down. When the panel rose, Dahgri glanced out into the hallway that had opened up before them. They were on the opposite side of the cellblocks now. Offices lined the corridor. Two offices away was a sign for the stairs. Dag smiled and pointed it out to the Treg.

Making their way down the flight of stairs was easy, the problem was at the bottom. She heard the alarms go off just as they reached the door at the bottom of the stairs. “Time for a heavy to do what a heavy does best,” Dag said with a glance at Xenen. “I got you outta there – now you get me outta here.”

Treg’s were never known for being tactful. Xenen was no exception. He broke a hole in the wall rather than exiting through the door. Dag hung back, allowing him to take on the brunt of the troopers. Slipping out in the havoc, Dahgri darted down the alleyway.

Her body numbed as she ran, turning corners in an attempt to lose the voices that followed. She heard energy pulses hit the buildings as she past but she continued to weave in and out of people and objects. Anything that she could find that would make targeting her difficult. She shed Coco’s jacket as she ran, wanting to become anonymous again.

Eventually, the troopers lost sight of her, or gave up, she didn’t really know which. She ducked into an alley and hunched in the shadows, her sides heaving with exhaustion. She pushed back wet hair and wiped her face on her sleeve. She needed to pick up her jacket but didn’t know if she had the strength to find her way back. She stayed in the shadows, waiting for her strength to return. What was she going to do now? She was in the system. The troopers had gotten a good look at her, and without Coco to help give her a quick fix, she’d be on the top of everyone’s lists.

It took her awhile to make her way back to the Faralax district. Even then, she had trouble locating the place where she had stashed her jacket. The flight from the troopers seemed to have erased her mind of everything and she couldn’t think clearly. She pulled the small bundle from her boot and counted. Twenty cubits. Dament wanted one hundred to give Coco a shot off this rock. She didn’t want to think about it. She’d never be able to make it into a café to get more. Turning, she headed toward the spaceport. She had to find Dament before he left.

***

The port entrance loomed before her. Dahgri licked her lips and stood in the shadows, watching the troopers who wandered the area keeping peace. She looked down at her clothes. She still had Coco’s pants on, with her mismatched jacket. If she could stay in the crowds, perhaps she could slip past the sensors and into the docking area to find Dament. Watching as groups of people came and went, she finally picked a group that she thought she could hid in and slipped in-between several as they passed. She kept her head down, wanting to remain unseen.

They walked past troopers but none paid the group any attention. Slipping out of the crowd was easy once they were within the outer port. Dahgri made her way toward the service corridor that went to the docking area. Stepping onto the transport line, the pad she was on started to move down the corridor. It took only a matter of minutes for the pad to reach the other end. Stepping off, Dag had no trouble spotting Dament.

“But -- We agreed!” The Treg bellowed at the mechanic who was closing up his supplies.

“Yeah and you called me early. I told you I’d do what I could. Now I want paid,” responded the mechanic. Dahgri neared the argument. The mechanic was a Farren. His voice had raised in agitation, but his coloring had not. He was still a calming blue-grey.

“I told you – you fix the ship, I pay you tonight when the job is done. You didn’t fix anything! “

“And I told you – you pay me when I finish!” The grey deepened and the blue tinges shifted to purple and then crimson. The Farren was becoming truly agitated. “You don’t pay me, I put it back the way I found it!” The Farren raised his fist toward the console that was still open on the outside of the ship.

“How much did you want me to bring, Dament?” Dahgri said, moving closer to the Treg. “I couldn’t find Coco, but I found Vag and pulled in your markers.”

The Treg towered over her as he turned, inspecting her. Suspicion flickered in his eyes for a moment before he smiled, showing razor sharp incisors among other teeth that were just as sharp. “How much you got?” Dament demanded.

“Twenty cubes,” Dag responded, her eyes going to the Farren. With a nod, Dament held out his hand, waiting. Dahgri’s eyes returned to the Treg who stood just over six feet tall, his dark brown complexion and sharp teeth making him look menacing. She shoved her hand into her pocket and pulled out the cubits, slapping them into Dament’ hand.

Dament pulled out another handful of cubits. “Here,” he growled, tossing them at the Ferran. The cubits scattered, and for one fleeting moment, Dahgri thought the Ferran was going to turn on the Treg. If that happened, it was a battle that Dahgri wanted to be nowhere around. They were both heavies though the Ferran had a distinct advantage, being able to change his density at will.

The mechanic glared at Dament for what seemed like an eternity before bending down to collect his earnings. Dament watched until the mechanic finally left. “So, how much I owe you this time for helping out?” he finally asked in a whisper.

Dag looked away. “A shot of this rock. Same as you were offering Coco.” She closed her eyes, not wanting to think about the last minutes of Coco’s life.

“What happened?”

“They pulsed him…” Dahgri stepped closer to the ship, inspecting the control panel that was still open.

Dament left the matter well enough alone, which Dag was happy about. “I would have offered you that – but they have me on lockout. And that damn Ferran wouldn’t even try to override the lockout codes for the nav system after he fixed it.”

“You sure he fixed it?” Dag asked with half a smile.

“Yeah, I saw the readout – don’t need codes to set the connection readouts. Only to be able to leave the bay, but you already knew that.”

Several troopers walked down the service tunnel, making Dahgri nervous. “Come on, I work best inside and away from prying eyes,” she murmured, closing the outer access panel and turning toward the entry hatch.

“So… they’re after you too,” Dament mused as he followed her inside. “What’d you do this time that you’re so anxious to get off this rock?”

“I tried to jump an uplink in the white district,” she responded as she pushed her way into the small command center at the head of the ship.

“And you got caught! Stars, Dag, how you think I’m supposed to get you outta here now. Every trooper this side of the planet will be looking for you.”

Dag smiled and removed the access panel to the nav system. “Same way you were going to get out before. Punch your way out. Come on, Dament, I know how you work. What you got stashed this time that you don’t want anyone to find. It’s more than just your ship that you’re worried about.”

“It doesn’t matter what I got – we ain’t gonna get outta here. They have everything locked down and I can’t override their codes!” Dament slammed his fist into the wall, creating a small dent.

“You can’t but I can,” Dag responded as she finished changing circuit connectors. Closing the access panel, she went to the nav console. “Where we heading anyways?”

“Zen-Forb, Cretena galaxy,” Dament growled, his mood still sour.

Dahgri cast a long glance his way before pulling her one hand on the uplink unit and punching keys on the holo-pad with the other. The screen repeatedly beeped at her, deterring her. Casting her eyes over the hull outside, she spotted more troopers filling the spaceport. Agitation grew as the console continued to thwart her. “Come on,” she growled. The troopers were checking ships, working their way down the line. It wouldn’t take them long to reach this one.

The console navigation grid came on-line. Dahgri smiled as she punched in the destination. “You ready to get off this rock?” she asked Dament.

“You – you bypassed the protocols! I could kiss you, Dag…” Dament exclaimed moving over to the flight controls. He punched the switch for the access hatch and Dahgri heard it whoosh closed.

“Any time your ready, the central nav system is getting antsy…” Dag murmured as the console beeped, asking for another authorization code as Dament started up the engines.

Dament hit the thrusters just as the central system tried to block her out. Cursing, Dahgri leapt across the distance separating her and Dament, and pushed the thrusters on full. The force of the jolt threw her across the small cabin to smash into the back wall. She saw the grid activate as they slipped through and the force field for the bay went up, but it didn’t matter. They were out.