Ben and Streek: Clone Saga Ch. 07

Down the hall, Streek found the cells. They were simple rooms, walled in on three sides, with the fourth side covered in steel mesh with one inch square holes and a strong looking steel door with an electronic lock.

The first cell Streek came across had a large man sleeping in the bed, she couldn't see his face but she knew that it was Naeme. She kicked at the mesh, making a racquet and the prisoner stirred.

He slowly got up from the bed and blinked at her. He was pretty much like she remembered him; the distinct large scar on his face, short salt and pepper hair and square jaw. It looked like he hadn't shaved in a while and was growing a scruffy beard.

"I'm dreaming." he said with his gravelly voice. "The one where a big titted, young slut comes to my cell in the middle of the night. I like that one."

He got out of bed and stood up. He was only wearing a pair of boxer shorts, his bare chest was hairy and he had several scars and tattoos on his chest and arms. One of the tattoos on his chest was a shark.

He slowly walked over to Streek looking her up and down. "Did you find out where the only real man in this crappy station is? Come to get your cunt filled with Pirate cock eh?"

Streek didn't say anything, she just stared at him intensely. The man from her nightmares. She wasn't afraid of him.

"Come on then baby, I'm up for it. ...What's your name?"

"You don't remember me?" said Streek.

Naeme looked her over again. "I'm not very good with faces. Why don't you show me your tits, maybe I'll remember them."

"No, I didn't have my tits when we met."

"Really? When exactly did we meet bitch?"

"Two years ago, in the Vico system, you remember attacking a shuttle there?"

"Yeah, I remember that. There was just a couple of faggots onboard. We gave them a good reaming and left, where do you come into it?"

"I was the First Mate, Ass-hole!"

"You? What, did you get a sex-change or something? Ha! I said you were a bitch, it's a big improvement. What? Did you come down here to reminisce? Did you miss getting dicked by ol' Captain Naeme eh?"

"I came to set you free Captain." said Streek holding up the Key card, she swiped it through the door and unlocked it. "You just need to get past me."

The door slid open, and Naeme stood there with a smile on his face looking at Streek in the doorway. He suddenly lunged forward and punched Streek hard in the jaw, breaking it. He grabbed her and slammed her up against the wall.

"You heard that a girl brought me in, didn't you? So you thought you could take me on. Well, I was almost passed out drunk then. You've made a huge mistake you trannie bitch!"

He slammed his fist hard into Streeks' guts, making her cry out in pain. He then grabbed at her tits with one hand while he held her there. "nice!"

Streek brought her knee up and slammed it into his groin, he doubled over in pain and then she slammed her knee into his face.

"Raaaagh" cried out Naeme, coming up with a hard right hook to her left eye. Streek shrugged off the blow and gave him a strong uppercut.

Streek wasn't blocking or dodging, she just stood there trading blows with the big Pirate. It was a very ugly brawl.

Streek let off a combination of punches to Naemes' head that sent him down to the ground. She got on top of him, and was slamming her fists into his face repeatedly.

"Hey! You! Get off the prisoner now!" Streek heard someone call out behind her. But she just kept on punching. She was whacked from behind and knocked off of the Pirate.

A Resistance guard got on top of her, holding her down, she didn't fight him. Naeme was unconscious, his face was a bloody mess. Another guard examined him.

"Is he dead?" asked the guard holding Streek down.

"No, but we need to get him to the infirmary now. Put her in a cell."

Streek didn't resist as she was dragged into a nearby cell and locked in. "We'll send a doctor for you." said the guard.

Streek would have told them not to bother, but she couldn't talk with her jaw broken. She sat on the bed and grabbed her jaw and tried setting it, it hurt like hell.

Her face was all swollen and bleeding, she knew her Nanobots would fix her up soon. What the hell have I done? she thought as she sat there.

About twenty minutes later a woman came to her cell, she looked to be around forty, with shoulder length red hair. The guard let her in. Street sat there clutching her jaw.

"I'm Doctor McFadden, is your jaw broken? You don't need to talk."

Streek had trouble speaking, "Iss awright Doc, I'n a crone."

Dr McFadden came up to her and examined her face. "You're a clone?, I heard we had a couple more in our ranks. I guess your Nano-mechanical Bio-regeneration will handle things eh?"

She got a cloth from her bag and started wiping the blood from Streeks face. "You really did a number on that Pirate, he's in a coma. You know, we don't condone brutality toward prisoners. Why did you do it?"

"ee raped ne."

"What? just then?" said Dr. McFadden looking her over.

"No, defore."

"Well, we still don't condone brutality, no matter how much they deserve it. You're in a lot of trouble young lady."

"I know."

Another fifteen minutes later, Streeks' jaw had fixed itself, and her face was almost back to normal. She laid down on the bed, trying to get some rest.

She and Bernie were already on the wrong side of General Bolton, she wondered if he was going to leave her in that cell for a long time.

Hours went by and Streek just laid there on the hard bed, she was in a dark mood, her life was not going how she wanted.

Streek was laying there when she heard Bernies' voice, "Streek!" She sat up and saw Bernie standing outside her cell. She looked tired and hung over.

"Are you all right Streek? I woke up and you weren't there, and I looked everywhere, and then I heard some guards talking about someone almost beating a prisoner to death, and I knew it was you. Are you Okay?"

Streek just nodded at her.

"You should have told me you were gunna come and beat Captain Naeme up. I would have come with you. Did he beg for you to stop? Man, I wish I could have seen it at least." Bernie stood there looking at her with concern on her face. "Come on Streek, talk to me."

"What is there to say?"

"What set you off? Naeme has been here for a while now."

"I don't know, I had another bad dream, he was in it."

"Oh, ...I've been having bad dreams too. ...maybe ...maybe we should reconsider Doc Arnotts' mind wipe thing. y'know?"

"Those who can't remember the past are destined to make the same mistakes again."

"What do you mean by that? do you blame yourself for getting raped?"

"No Ben, I blame you!"

"...me?"

"You set the coarse through Pirate territory, without telling me. I would have told you how stupid it was, you ended up getting us both raped."

"I know, ...I've always felt really bad about that. I told you I was sorry."

"But you didn't learn. You brought the Alien Cloning Pod aboard the Lang without me knowing. And look what happened then."

"It was your idea to make a girl clone."

"But none of it would have happened if you didn't buy the fuckin' Pod. Then on Antares, I said we couldn't trust Raff the Rat, you didn't fuckin' listen to me."

"I did listen to you, I just ...I thought we could handle it."

"And then on New Heidi, I told you we shouldn't have helped your Sire break into the Impound Facility, but I ended up getting raped again."

"I'm sorry Streek, I didn't know things would turn out that way."

"Every time I got raped, it was because of you!"

Bernie was looking down at the floor, there was a dark expression on her face.

"Come on Ben, what do you have to say to that?!" said Streek angrily.

Tears were rolling down Bernies' face, "...sorry!" she sobbed and then she ran off, out of Streeks' sight.

"Ah, Shit!" said Streek, flopping back onto the bed again.

The hours crept by as Streek laid there in the cell. Eventually a guard came in with her lunch, a tall, brown haired man in his thirties.

"Please, can you contact my friend Bernie Anders for me, tell her I'm sorry and I need to see her."

"You want me to do favours for you clone? You attacked one the guards, and you made us all look bad. We're supposed to stop shit like that from happening."

"Jacko, he's alright isn't he, tell him I'm sorry."

"Look, I've wanted to beat the crap out of Naeme plenty of times, but there's rules we gotta follow here."

"I had a score to settle with him."

"Yeah, well I'm not your errand boy, your friend will just have to come and see you when she's ready."

Streek left her lunch, she didn't have much of an appetite. She was miserable. A couple of hours later she had another visitor. A guard unlocked her door and General Bolton entered the cell. Streek stood up and faced him "General."

"Anders is gone." said General Bolton.

"What do you mean gone?"

"She stole one of our small Fighters with Hyper-warp capabilities and left the Cluster."

"Oh Shit!"

"I don't care what the Doctor says, I'm starting to think you two clones are more trouble than your worth. Here's your TAB, Anders left a message on it for you."

He handed Streek the TAB, and she opened up the message straight away.

Bernies' holographic head appeared above it, she looked sad. "Streek, I really am sorry. You're right, it's all my fault. That's why I gotta try and set things right. I'm not coming back until I have the Cloning Pod, and you can become a man again. Don't come after me. You're right, you're not safe with me. If I don't make it, I'm sorry I failed you, and I just want you to know that I've always considered myself lucky to have you as a friend. Tell General Bolton I'm sorry too, I'm just borrowing the craft for a while. Take care of yourself Streek."

"Fuck!" said Streek.

"Fuck indeed," said the General. "She had better not get in the way of Doctor Arnotts' operation. I've ordered all operatives to take her into custody if they see her."

"I'll go and find her for you."

"No way. You're more likely to join her foolish quest, than bring her in."

"I gotta do something, it's my fault she's gone."

"I said no. You still don't have my permission to leave this base. There's still the matter of what you did last night. We're not the Federation McKenzie, we don't mistreat our prisoners."

"I know, I'm sorry General, it's just..."

"You and the Pirate have history, I know. And you've been going through a lot lately. Sergeant Takoshi tells me you've been doing well with the recruits. You're free to leave the cell now McKenzie, and I'm ordering you to see a councillor. You will be watched very closely. Don't cause me any more trouble, or you'll be kicked out on your own, with your memory wiped clean."

"But I need to go after Bernie, she can't take on the Pirates on her own."

"She made her choice. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go and see my children."

"Mia and Zac are back?" General Bolton nodded and left the cell. Streek stood there for a moment and then left the cell as well.

The guards watched her coldly as she left the detention area. Streek made her way to where the Angelina was docked.

She tried to get Bernie on her TAB but had no luck. Streek just waited around outside the Angelina. She replayed Bernies' message a few times.

What have I done?! I'm so fuckin' stupid. I wasn't right, it's not all your fault Bernie, I need to find you and tell you that.

Eventually the docking doors opened and Mia and Zac walked out. Mia was just as beautiful as she remembered, with her fiery red hair and tight, toned body. Streek walked up to them.

"Streek!" said Mia stopping. "A lot has happened eh?"

Streek nodded, "Hi Mia, ...Zac."

Mia stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Streek, hugging her. "You were captured by the Feds, are you alright?"

"Yeah, thanks to the Doc. ...Bernie is gone."

"I know." said Mia looking into her eyes, she had the most beautiful, intense green eyes.

"She took the Hornet," said Zac. "I was working on that."

"I need to ask you two a huge favour."

"You want us to take you out there after her," said Mia. Streek nodded. "...My father won't like that idea."

"Please, I don't care what the General thinks, I can't just stay here while she's out there in danger."

"I can try to talk Dad around, but I want to do it, one way or another. What do you say Zac?"

"I want to go and get the Hornet back, and ...I was kinda looking forward to seeing Bernie again. Let's go find her."

"The Van Halen will take another couple of hours to recharge, get ready to leave Streek."

"I'm ready. Thank you!, thank you!, thank you!" said Streek, giving Mia another tight hug.

"Hey, what are friends for?"

A couple of hours later Streek sat in the cockpit of the Van Halen with Mia and Zac. Zac was in the Pilots' seat.

"The General seemed determined to keep me grounded. How did you talk him around?" asked Streek.

"Oh, I have a way with him," said Mia. "I got the impression he wanted us back out there again, the Cloning Pod is kind of a big deal. I just told him we're not going out there without Streek."

"Thanks, I appreciate it."

"Just remember that I'm your Commanding Officer out there. You're my responsibility. So don't fuck up, and don't die. That's an order!"

"I'll do my best. What's your rank?"

"Captain." Mia said matter of factly.

"I thought Zac was the Captain of this ship."

"We have a kind of co-captaincy, it doesn't always go smoothly."

"So what do you do when you have a difference of opinion?"

"We've got a system in place to resolve that." said Zac.

"It's called Paper, Rock, Scissors." said Mia smiling.

Zac spoke into the comm, "Van Halen to Control. Requesting clearance for departure."

"Control here. Clearance granted Van Halen. Leaving already Zac? You just got back."

"Yeah, no rest for the wicked Rolley. I'll give you a game of pool when we get back again."

"You're on. Good luck out there Van Halen. Control out."

The long, curved star-ship lifted from the platform in the huge docking bay and then zoomed out through the atmospheric shield, and flew out amongst the blazing stars.

...