Hatchette Ch. 17-21

Roku was moving back down the hidden stone stairs when her ears registered something – a sound down the tunnel in front of her. She froze, listening. Nothing... Then there it was again. Roku let herself panic just for a moment. Had the Hatchettes discovered the secret tunnels? There was no way... Then Roku noticed something on the steps, something that only vaguely showed up via the infrared. She raised her glasses and crouched quietly down. She touched a finger to the stone and it came back with blood. Roku looked down at her blood soaked right sock, sodden by her thigh wound. She'd been leaving a trail, ever since she'd taken off her heels. The Hatchettes must have followed it, into the Head Matron's office, and down behind the bookcase.

Roku silently began to move back up the stone stairs. Balancing herself on her hands, she almost crab crawled back, not daring to look away from the dark tunnel. Back at the secret door behind the locker, she reached into her coat and pulled out a plasma grenade. She unlatched the door and again waited, activating the grenade, but not letting loose on the safety.

It took a little more adjusting of her sunglasses, but she got the thermal outline of the two Hatchettes against the cold earth under the school. They seemed to be down a side corridor, perhaps following Roku's trail into the pleasure cell; but they were coming around, back towards Roku. Slowly they moved, often crouching down, examining the trail, but closer they came. Closer and closer, rifles at the ready.

It wasn't very sporting, Roku thought, feeling the weight of the grenade in her hand; but she'd only told herself that she'd give them what fairness she could afford. And to end the fight right here and there... Well, she let the grenade fall, letting it skipped down the stairs, pinging as it bounced. Roku jumped to her feet and pushed open the secret door. She was in the center of the dormitory when the grenade went off, blowing the locker clean off the secret entrance.

The concussion knocked Roku to the ground. She fell on her back, the auto-burner jamming uncomfortably into her spine. She just lay there for a second and breathed in hard. That had to be it, she thought to herself, who could she have missed? The one by the Matron; the one in the dorm; the medivac; two here in this room and two down there in the tunnel. That made seven. It had to make seven.

Roku listened to the sound of her breath and looked up at the slate of the dorm's roof. She was alive. By the Holy Matron, she was alive! She pulled herself up to a sitting position and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands.

There was a moan. The Hatchette, the one Roku had simply knocked unconscious, was coming to. Roku jumped to her feet and pulled the burner from her skirt. She walked over and knelt down beside the girl, pulling off the goggles, pulling off the mask.

Exsi. Her named came instantly to Roku mind. As her eyes began to flutter open, Roku leveled the burner at her nose. Exsi awoke to the sight of the business end of the burner. Her eyes suddenly got very large.

"The recall code," Roku said, looking down the barrel of her gun.

"I-I-" Exsi said, terror in her eyes.

"They're all dead. All of them. It's just you. You and me. The last of the Hatchettes," Roku spoke calmly, to the point. "You can die with the others or you can give me the recall code. I don't want to be the last of my kind, Exsi, but you came here to kill me. And I will kill you..."

"Traitor..." The Hatchette said, halfheartedly.

"No," Roku corrected, not moving the gun, "no, whatever they told you, it was a lie. It's all a lie. Everything. There's no Dicks, no Terrorist threat. They were using us – using us all. They used you to kill me and me to kill you. But it ends now. I'm going to put an end to the whole thing, but I need that recall code, Exsi – I need a VTOL."

Exsi's eyes looked from the gun to Roku's face. If she believed Roku or not, it was hard to tell, but she believed the gun pointed at her – believed that Roku could kill. Roku could see in her eyes that she was contemplating her chances – consulting her battle computer – of fighting it out with Roku. The look of terror still floating in her eyes told Roku that the chances weren't good.

"Aquamarine," Exsi said with no elaboration.

Roku pulled herself to her feet, not lowering the gun. She pulled a radio off the Exsi's belt and held it up to her lips.

"Aquamarine," Roku said in the handset and dropped the radio on the floor. "Run, Exsi," Roku said to Exsi as she began to back away, "Run. Run and hide, never come up for air. If you return to Command they'll kill you. If anyone ever finds out what you are, you're dead. Run, Exsi, as far and as fast as you can."

Then Roku took her own advice, spinning around and sprinting out of the dorm.

21. The Commissar

A VTOL was coming in for the pickup as Roku jogged out onto the sports field. The door came up and the pilot looked at Roku in confused bewilderment.

"Hey, you-" was all she managed before Roku shot her, covering the pilot's door with a mist of red.

Roku hopped into the craft, reached across and unlatching the pilot's door. She pushed out the corpse and climbed over into the pilot's seat. The thrust of the takeoff jets brought the cockpit doors closed, and Roku arched the craft up and around, pointing towards the city.

It'd just take two more impossible tasks before the day was done.

The Sentinel Tower came into view and Roku thrust the VTOL higher and higher, climbing up into the clouds. The Sentinel Tower had no landing pad on the roof. The wind shear that high in the sky was brutal, and landing any craft on the roof on the Sentinel Tower was a next to impossible task... But it was exactly what Roku planned on doing...

The pinnacle of the building came into view and Roku circled it twice, assessing her options. There was no flat top to the tower; its roof was a spire of communication equipment. That only left Roku one option. She brought her craft in close to the Falling Gallery. The turbulence was immense. Twice she tried to hover in, only to be buffeted back. A third time she almost crashed into the massive window sof the observation deck. Finally, she simply brought the VTOL in above the Gallery and cut the engines. She dropped like a stone, crashing hard down onto a lower terrace. The VTOL would never fly again, but Roku lept free on the wreckage.

Up the terraces she ran, the auto-burner still strapped to her back. She took a plasma grenade from the pocket of the great coat and activated it. She shifted it to her left hand and set the delay for instantaneous. Now for the second impossible task, she thought...

She came into the observation desk just as the elevators doors across the room were opening. Ober Guards poured out, with weapons at the ready. Roku held up her left hand, showing everyone the grenade. Guards took knees and leveled auto-burners; guards talked frantically into radios. Roku didn't pause. If they were going to shoot they would shoot. She took the steps up and came to the double doors of Lady Aru's office. Backing up to it, she made sure everyone on the observation deck could see the grenade. She fumbled with the handle to the door behind her back and got it open. She stepped inside.

Lady Aru and three guards were waiting at the door to the private elevator as Roku stepped into the room. The Guards drew their side-arms, but Roku held out the grenade. She had caught them all off guard. Their contingency plans, their evacuation routes for the dignitaries, never took into account a landing on the Falling Gallery. The elevators had been at the base of the tower when they'd come to comprehend exactly what Roku was planning. It'd take two minutes for the private elevator to arrive and whisk Lady Aru to safety. Plenty of time for Roku to come in and kill every last fucking one of them; if that had been what she'd been planning to do.

"Send them away," Roku told Lady Aru, waving the grenade.

"Roku-" Lady Aru began. She still wore her yellow chiffon gown, but had added a mink stole to it and a purse. Roku just held out the grenade and Lady Aru fell silent.

"If I'd wanted you dead, I'd have just thrown this through the door," Roku added.

Lady Aru looked at Roku and then at her guards. She bit at her lower lip and patted a guard on her shoulder. Without a word the guards re-holstered their weapons.

On queue, the private elevator dinged and the doors opened. The guards silently stepped into it, leaving Lady Aru behind.

"Sit down," Roku commanded, after the elevator doors closed. Lady Aru circled around her massive desk and sat down gently into the high backed chair. Roku pulled the auto-burner off her back, leaned it up against the desk and took a chair across the desk, resting the grenade on its arm.

"Oh, Roku, you are magnificent..." Lady Aru said with a combination of admiration and lust.

Roku leaned back in her chair and let herself relax. What was so fucking magnificent? Roku thought. She crossed her bloodied right leg over her left and could glimpse herself in her own mind's eye. The schoolgirl skirt with nothing on underneath; her bare breasts poking out from under the leather great coat; the expanse of hard, flat stomach between them. The broken nose and bloodstained teeth. The mirrored sunglasses behind her black bangs, hiding the weary, bloodshot eyes. If she was magnificent it was only because she was still alive. Perhaps, today that was all you need for magnificence.

"You understand that I could never have gone through with it," Roku said calmly, "if they'd given me the order..."

"Yes," Lady Aru replied, averting her eyes. "I had hoped..."

"But still, you leave me for Anders... Send my friends, compatriots to kill me..."

"You don't get to sit behind this desk, Roku," Lady Aru began, sternly. Whatever weak moment she had just had was over. "by being sentimental. I hoped – I knew – that there was more between us that simply your mission. But could I count on that? This... This place, Roku," she waved a hand, "is rotten to the foundations. Every day, a palace coup. The Hatchettes – you Roku – were just one more attempt to grab power. And if I wish to hold onto power, for more than a day, there could be no project like the Hatchettes that escaped my attention – no projects like that, that were not explicitly authorize."

"They're all dead now," Roku said, "except for me."

Lady Aru shifted in her seat. She began to stand than decided against it. She shuffled a few tablets on her desk.

"I've read the file," Lady Aru indicated a pile of tablets on her desk, "all the reports... You were always the best, Roku, their brightest star. It was foolish of me to think that you could simply be done away with – swept under the rug. You're nothing if not the perfect killing machine, Roku. You proved that today. Those Nanpa Girls, Moll Flanders, Anders... But, oh so such a beautiful thing, too... It wasn't just foolish of me, Roku, but a waste..."

Lady Aru made like she was about to raise from her chair, but Roku held up the grenade. She dropped back down.

"This is the finish, the end to your game," Roku said, "Of all the lies and deceit. Your political intrigues and power plays. It's just you and me now, and this," Roku gestured with the grenade. "No exits."

"No," Lady Aru scolded, "don't talk like that. The end? Are you insane? This is just the beginning Roku. Alright, there's what I've done and there's what you've done. Sins aplenty – sins to stack up as high as this tower – but think, Roku, think. That's all behind us, we're the winners here, you and I, and to the winners come the rewards. Everything I've done was to assure that it would be me sitting behind this desk, and that's everything Roku! Don't you understand? Everything! Of course, we make the noise that the purpose of the Great Society is to secure the life and liberty of the people, but come on... Face facts, even a blind woman can see that there are winners and losers here: The haves and have nots. Does anyone succeed in this Great Society without connections? Hardly. It's all about power, Roku, the acquisition of power. That's everything – all that matters. Period.

"And we have it all Roku, you and I. I, I'm sitting here, and you, Roku, should be by my side. The Hatchettes... The Hatchettes were a brilliant idea. I'll grant my predecessor that much. A brilliant idea used for the wrong purpose, but you and I could chance that. You, Roku, you can build the Hatchettes anew. From the ground up with full knowledge, this time, of their purpose: To assure that the correct people stay in power, Roku, that the right person is sitting behind this desk. That was always the purpose of the Hatchettes, and the right people are now in power, Roku – you and I. That needs to be protected."

Roku's left hand was growing tired, gripping onto the grenade, and she had heard enough. She pulled the infrared glasses from her eyes and tossed them onto the desk, tentatively prodding at the break in her nose.

"If it's about that girl-" Lady Aru began.

"She's safe," Roku interrupted, looking at Lady Aru with weary eyes.

"Yes, but for how long..." Lady Aru said knowingly.

In a blur, Roku's right hand was up pointing a burner across the desk.

"You're in no position to make threats!" Roku announced.

"No, no," Lady Aru leaned back in her chair, holding up her hands, contritely, "you misunderstand me. You can kill me, you can burn down this building, but how long will that keep the girl safe?" Lady Aru paused, letting her words sink in. Roku's hand holding the burner wavered. "The only way – the only real way – to assure her safety, Roku, is from behind this desk."

Tentatively, Roku's burner returned to the pocket of her coat.

"We take care of our friends, Roku, our wives, our loved ones. That is the purpose of power – in its entirety – to protect ourself and those we love from those that mean us harm. Weapons are all well and good, from that burner up to atomic missile, but there are always casualties in war. There is only way to assure that those that we love will be safe, only one way you can guarantee it with absolute certainty: The subjugation of your opposition. Nothing less will do.

"Look at the males: Once our masters, enslavers on womankind, now noting more than lapdogs... Pets, and playthings... That is power, Roku, that is how we assure our survival. You can't simply destroy your enemies, Roku, that is no enough. There will always be more. The next day, or the day after. You have to crush them. That sends a message to them all. And there is only one true power that can crush completely, Roku, the power of the state. And the state is right here, Roku, behind this desk, sitting in my chair.

"If this girl means anything to you; if you maintain any hope of protecting her from the horrible events that you, yourself have made her apart of. You need to be on this side of the desk, Roku. Here, by my side. There's no other way – no other option with any sort of chance of success. It may offend your principles, might conflict with your sense of right and wrong, but remember what's important Roku, and you'll understand what I'm saying now is true."

Roku felt a tightness in her chest and she gasped to breath. Lady Aru smiled, she knew what she was saying what getting through to Roku. Was Roku really considering this? It was insane! There was no way Roku could really trust her. Not Lady Aru. She'd tried twice today to have Roku killed, and at the first opportunity – as sure as the sun rises in the morning – she'd try and have Roku killed again. But everything she said was true. What would Lady Aru's death gain Roku? Nothing, if the cost was Roku's own life. Without Roku, Pelli would be easy pickings for whoever next filled the First Commissar's chair... And they'd have to get her, with what she now knew... It was all Roku's fault, if she'd just kept Pelli out of it all...

What if Roku simply got up now and walked away, leaving Lady Aru alive? Roku and Pelli would be hounded by the Commissariat for the rest of their days. Roku wouldn't be young forever, her implants would require routine maintenance. Eventually, they'd be someone who'd get the better than her – a new bread of Hatchettes; faster, more powerful; not encumbered by the Dick Terrorist lie. No, Roku's options were quickly dwindling down to one.

If she could recruit a whole new crop of Hatchettes – train and equipment them herself – that would be something... If those Hatchettes were loyal to each other, loyal to Roku, that'd be hedge to any power plays of Lady Aru might attempt. Roku would just have to stay alive long enough to train twelve more like her – teach them everything she'd learned. And she'd learned so much in the last few months, so much more than simple combat...

Roku deactivated the grenade in her hand, rendering it inert, and tossed it up over the desk.

"Catch," she said, and Lady Aru clumsily reached out to catch it. She had it in her hands, then it was loose again, then she finally had a grip on it. She breath a sigh of relief, looking at the grenade, realizing it hadn't exploded. She looked up and smiled at Roku, her full, perfect lips curling.

Roku pulled herself heavily out of the chair and limped her way around the desk. She put a hand on Lady Aru's shoulder and Lady Aru slipped a hand under Roku's leather great coat, under the skirt and touched Roku's firm, bare ass.

Roku looked down at Lady Aru and Lady Aru looked up at Roku. They both knew, for here on out, they wouldn't be taken their eyes off each other – not even for a second.

It was a match made in heaven, by the Holy Matron herself.