Phoenix City Spaceport, Saraya, Standard Year 404

  The heat and humidity of Saraya’s atmosphere swirled through the shuttle, a shocking and sudden contrast to the dry and sterile air they had breathed while spaceborne. They had arrived.

  “Hide.” Alanna said, her eyes scanning the surroundings of the fortunately crowded cargo bay. “Hide and leave me so they can take me.”

  “But the pilot and his brother know we’re here.” Tony said with a shake of his head.

  “Interesting timing.” Lisa murmured. “The raid on Jonno’s coming just before we landed. Almost to the minute.”

  “Easy fix.” Tony said, getting up.

  Just then, the pilot and the brother walked into the cargo bay. “Why the hell are the cameras off?” The pilot asked angrily. “What’s…”

  And those were the last words he ever said. Alanna looked at the two bodies lying on the ground, two perfectly centered shots through their forehead, a testament to the quality of troops she had been given for this mission. “Now take the bodies and hide.” She said.

  “Hey Alanna.” Tony began calmly as the other marines found places to stash the bodies. They had time yet, there was no one in the shuttle but them.

  “Yes?” Alanna said with trepidation. She wasn’t loving the sound of Tony’s voice just then.

  “So when your” Tony cleared his throat “nonbiologically related brother says he loves you…”

  “Oh my god.” Alanna looked down at her chained hands, spreading them out in frustration. “Really? Now?”

  “They’re not here.” Tony shrugged. “We’ve got time. As I was saying, when he says…”

  “We’re family. We love each other. And I know he loves me, he’s just being melodramatic. There’s really no reason for it.” Alanna said firmly.

  They both looked down at her chained hands. But it was going to be fine. Totally fine.

  “Once they have you, your only mission objective is to stall and stay alive. Stall, Alanna. Just keep the warden talking and stall.”

  “Right.” Alanna nodded. “That’s my special skill.”

  Tony looked noticeably more nervous. Talking was not Alanna’s special skill. Her special skill, as far as he could tell, was making people mad and then shooting them. And it was the exact opposite of what they all needed from her over the next several hours. “Stall. Stall, nod, and be pleasant. And smile a lot. But politely. Like you’re loving everything the warden says. No matter what it is. Nod and smile. The longer you can keep this civilized, the safer you are.”

  “Right.” Alanna nodded, and gave a somewhat painful smile. “I totally have this.”

  They both looked up at the sound of an explosion blowing open the shuttle bay doors. Tony disappeared.

  ---

  The Sarayan atmosphere had entered the shuttle completely now, the warmth, humidity and scent of living things swirling around her and bringing back memories long forgotten. It occurred to Alanna that she hadn’t really missed it. It had been years since she had last set foot on the planet, and she had been a different person then. Just for a brief moment, she imagined herself back in James’s apartment, in front of his fireplace. With him. And then reality interceded. Alanna watched as a full squad of Sarayan marines entered the shuttle, their rifles trained on her. Real professionals, their cold eyes constantly scanning their surroundings. It was a completely different caliber of troops from anyone she had previously interacted with on Saraya. She had never been important enough to warrant this. But now she was.

  “They left.” Alanna offered. “They figured out you were coming and left.”

  “And you stayed?” The man she had to assume was the squad leader eyed her sharply.

  “I did some calculations and figured my chances of walking out of the spaceport weren’t great.” Alanna nodded. And then smiled. Everyone on Saraya knew her face.

  The leader studied her for a brief moment. “Pull back.” He said abruptly. He didn’t want his people exposed to whatever had been left on that shuttle, not if he could help it.

  Alanna watched his troops following orders, with perfect precision. They really did send in the best.

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  “Walk out.” He said, nodding towards her. “Get up and walk out.”

  Alanna spread out her already chained hands, showing just how helpless she was, before getting up and walking towards the shuttle exit. The marines moved in around her, a wall of armed troops on every side as they continued on their way out of the spaceport. Apparently, a squad of marines meant you didn’t have to go through any security checks.

  The prison transport van was waiting for them. A real one, with heavy duty chains they used to transport the prisoners. Ten of the twelve marines went in the back of the van with her. Alanna nodded, smiled, and sat down in the center of the bench on one side of the van, as she had been ordered. They chained down her feet but didn’t bother with her hands, which were already tied. They probably had her file, after all. Alanna had nearly failed her hand-to-hand combat class at the naval academy. And that class had mostly consisted of hapless conscripts who weren’t particularly interested in being there. She really wasn’t very good, and the marines tasked with ensuring her safe arrival to Phoenix Penitentiary damn well knew it. This was a laughable amount of overkill for someone who had become politically relevant, likely through no skills or abilities whatsoever. Alanna gave another weak smile, just for good measure.

  She shifted her hands slightly, feeling the fork she still had in her pocket. The problem with Tony’s plan, was that nodding, smiling, and stalling could at times become conflicting priorities. The nodding and the smiling definitely went together. She was fairly clear on that point. But the stalling could require a different approach altogether.

  “James Hawk would have been a lucky man.” The marine next to her said.

  Alanna winced.

  “Only he’s not so lucky now, is he?” One of the other men said with a laugh.

  “Think the warden’s gonna let him watch?” The man on her other side asked.

  Alanna gave a slight, noncommittal shrug, just to switch things up with the nodding and the smiling. Both of the marines were closer than they should have been, but they weren’t worried. No one thought she posed a threat.

  “Why did you let us take you alive?” The squad leader asked, ignoring the comments from the others. “You know better.” He sounded annoyed.

  Alanna gave another slight shrug. There were too many of them, and they were too good. She was fast, but not that fast. She needed a distraction and she could only hope that some sort of opportunity presented itself on the drive over to the prison. Nodding and smiling was only going to get her so far. Alanna needed to stall. She closed her eyes momentarily, doing some calculations inside her head. It would be thirty to forty minutes from the spaceport to the prison, depending on traffic. Based on how the van was moving, traffic was moderate, so let’s say thirty five minutes. And about ten minutes had passed.

  Hopefully, Tony and the other Tundran troops were now making their way out of the spaceport. Jonno had a way to get them into the prison, the warden’s cooperation would not be needed for that. They were on their way now. Getting the warden to release the prisoners would come next. The mission clock was ticking now, and Alanna needed to stall, and stay alive. She grabbed the edge of the seat as the driver slammed on the breaks, sending her lurching forward into one of the marines, the one that had made a comment about James watching. Alanna did not like him. But she had been as surprised as anyone by the unexpected stop, and there wasn’t enough time for her to do anything. One opportunity missed. She gritted her teeth, and waited.

  Another ten minutes passed. Time was ticking away. Alanna forced herself to sit perfectly still, her hands resting at the top of the pocket where she still had the fork. They hadn’t even bothered to search her. Somewhat reasonable given that she was supposedly a prisoner for days, but also somewhat sloppy. There was no way for her to predict the ebb and flow of traffic. She was as surprised as anyone. She took a breath. There wasn’t much time left. Five more minutes passed, by her calculations. Twenty five minutes into the drive, perhaps ten minutes left.

  A car beeped. Alanna went for it. Pulling the fork out of her pocket, she leaned forward and stabbed the marine on her left, aiming for his jugular. It was the one that made a comment about James watching. She really didn’t like him and found it quite satisfying when the blood started coming.

  “Holy shit.” The squad leader shouted, jumping up to put pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding. “Give her space.” He said sharply. “Five feet away and outside of arms reach, now.”

  Alanna nodded. And smiled. She still had the fork, but there wasn’t a whole lot she could do with it. Her legs were still chained up and she was mostly immobile.

  “He’s going to bleed out.” One of the other men said. “We need to get him to a hospital.”

  “Our orders were to deliver her to the warden. Mission priority critical.” Someone else pointed out.

  “The other nine guys in this van, assuming that one lives, are going to remember you said that.” Alanna said helpfully. She gave a slight nod for emphasis.

  One of the other marines hit her across the face.

  “Don’t touch her.” The squad leader snapped. “Keep your distance.” He walked around the prone and bleeding man on the floor of the van and opened up the window towards the driver. “Take us to the nearest…” He paused, looking over at Alanna. The attack had been planned. And it had been planned for a reason. He just didn’t know what it was. He gave the address of a smaller hospital that was slightly further away. After all, there was no need to be overly predictable.

  Alanna smiled slightly, leaning back against the wall of the van. Getting the bleeding marine treatment was going to delay them significantly.

  ---

  It was quite a while later, and Alanna no longer had the fork. The bleeding marine had been dropped off at the hospital, still alive. And the van was headed back towards Phoenix Penitentiary. Alanna had been repeatedly assured that once the warden was done with her, the rest of the marines were coming to visit. But per the squad leader’s orders, no one had touched her. As Jonno had predicted, the warden would want to play civilized, before the game became something else.

  The squad leader’s eyes remained on her, unwavering. “You let us take you alive.” He repeated. “And you’re not entirely stupid.”

  Alanna shrugged. “I could be psychotic and stupid.”

  “But you’re not.”

  Alanna considered her options, and went with a slight nod.

  “You think someone’s coming for you. The Tundrans?”

  “The Tundrans are coming for all of us.” Alanna said with perfect honesty.