Betrayal 08

Looking at his brother's cell, a wave of anger laced with sadness washed over him. What did I do to make you hate me and my family so much, Jason? He thought to himself; watching the man, who sat quietly, chained to the chair in the middle of the room.

He had been watching his brother and daughter for over an hour now, not knowing what he should do to proceed. He knew that going in to confront his brother was just what Jason wanted. He had obviously been planning this for a very long time, so there was no way to know what he had up his sleeve.

Hearing the door to the office open, Hans looked over his shoulder to see his daughter, Brigit, stride in and walk right up to the control panel beneath the screen for Jason's cell. "Brigit...?"

"Just a second, Dad." she replied without looking at him. Plugging a computer pad into the control panel, she pushed a couple of buttons and smiled as a program began to run.

Hans was about to ask what she was up to when a blood curdling scream came from the speakers to Jason's cell. Looking at the screen, he saw that Jason was bent forward as far as his chains would allow him, clutching his head in pain.

Brigit turned and smiled at her father, a viscous gleam in her eyes. "And that is what you get when you hurt my man."

"What did you do to him? Brigit, you can't just hurt him for any reason." Hans said; despite everything that had happened, he was a little concerned for his brother's health.

"He was infiltrating the security systems. That's why he was being so quiet. I remotely shut down all of his implants. It's kind of like catching someone with their hand in the cookie jar and smashing it before cutting it off." Hans was frightened by the venom in her voice. It was clear that this betrayal was hurting her as much, if not more than him. "He'll be fine, eventually. None of his implants will be able to come online unless I allow them, so he should be fairly harmless now."

She turned, looked at her sister's screen and frowned. "If she is going through half of what Mykal was subjected to, clearing it all out is going to be tricky. I was barely able to get it out of Mykal's implants without it causing a massive overload and system shutdown." She sighed and touched the screen, causing it to zoom in on her sisters tear stained face. "We will have better facilities and more time for her I hope."

"Should we sedate her? She has been switching from this docile teary eyed Vivian to a raging and yelling Vivian, for the last hour."

Brigit shook her head. "She should be better now that I shut down Jason, and any personality shifts are indications that she is fighting the programming. If we sedate her, she won't be able to fight back and we'll have no idea what personality will wake up. She'll be okay dad. She's a Davidov."

The two were quiet for a few moments as they watched the traitor finally straighten up and look around with wild eyes. Finally, Hans couldn't wait any longer and he asked, "How is Mykal doing?"

Brigit took a deep breath, hugging her arms unconsciously around herself. "He'll be fine. Physically, he'll make a full recovery, but he was only a few seconds away from being forced into another Synaptic Overload. It's his mind I'm worried about. He seemed so cold and hard when he woke up. If it had just been Marcus and Jason, his sense of duty to you and mom would have seen him through, but you pile Freddy on top of that and I don't know if I'm going to get him back." By the time she finished speaking, tears were running freely down her cheeks. "I just can't lose him Daddy; I love him so much."

Hans wrapped his arms around his daughter and held her close. "Mykal is a strong man, and he truly does love you; that will help see you both through this. You just have to have some faith."

After she had cried herself out for the second time that day, she stepped out of her father's arms, wiping away the tears.

"I suppose I can't put this off forever. It's time to see what was running through my idiot brother's head when he decided to try and get me killed.

******

Tobias scoured the readouts again, looking for anything that would indicate a hidden attack force. Mykal would know where they were at; why can't you find them? He berated himself. He was so into his research that he didn't hear Captain Rimaldi walk up next to him.

"You keep straining like that, you'll pass out there Colonel." the captain said as he watched the young officer pour over the readout.

Jolting in surprise, Tobias looked over his shoulder at the Fleet Captain. "I know I'm missing something; I just can't pinpoint it."

"Son, if they are lying doggo, there isn't a scanner on this ship that'll pick them up." the captain said, waving an arm around the bridge of the ship. "We may be a really heavily armed royal transport, but we are still just a transport. I've been captain of a number of different ships and I think even a sensor trawler would have a go of it trying to track these bastards. Something to do with the material they make their ships out of. Some kind of super-strong manufactured stone." He chuckled. "Hells, the first Carthanian ship we ever detected was inadvertently classified by the ship's computer as an asteroid. Until, it started firing off plasma missiles that is."

Tobias looked at him skeptically, "How did they get out to report the attack, if that's the case?"

The Captain winked at him, "The XO classified the asteroid as a 'Danger to shipping lanes' and had gotten permission to use it for target practice for the missile crews, so everything was already in motion and it was targeted before the first missile was halfway to our...the ship."

Tobias chuckled, "How many awards did you get for that little bit of 'Forethought?'"

"Almost an even dozen." the Captain said with a straight face, looking over the plot. "Were it me doing this ambush, and I'd like to think that I am at least as smart as some lizards and far cleverer than that brother of yours, I would be hiding behind one of these three planets." The captain highlighted the three closest planets.

Tobias looked over the plot, his eyes going wide. "Its two of them. He's going to hit us from both of the closest planets. Just after we pass the closest, he springs the trap and the ships ahead of us pop out; when we try to reverse or make a break for it, the second group takes us from behind, using a slingshot maneuver to catch up to our velocity."

The two officers looked each other in the eyes and the Captain saw that the young man was serious, and more importantly, believed his assessment whole heartedly.

Tobias turned to the control pit. "Helm, listen carefully; when I give the mark, I want you to dump as much velocity as quickly as you can, and turn north in a hasty run pattern. I will give you a second mark, two minutes later, and you will turn straight at the dead zone of this planet," he said, marking the nearest heavenly body. "And you will hit full acceleration for twenty five seconds." He looked up at the Captain, "Once we hit the second mark, I want all fighters scrambled and separated into two fighter groups. Fighter group Alpha, will protect us from any incoming from the near planet; fighter group Bravo will protect against anything from the far planet."

The Captain nodded and moved to the squadron control center of the bridge. Tobias rushed over to fire control and spoke directly to the officer in charge, a young lieutenant. "Lieutenant, if everything works right, there will be a group of fighters that will light up and show themselves as soon as we make for escape; only fire half of the first volley, and do it as soon as you have targets available and a plot. Don't wait for a fire order, understand?"

The young lieutenant swallowed and nodded. "What do you want the other half for?"

Tobias smiled, "The other group of bogies that will show up shortly after the first. Same orders go for those. Kill 'em as you see 'em." The lieutenant smiled and nodded.

"Understood, Sir."

Tobias nodded once and rushed back up to the main plot.

He looked over at the captain, who smiled and nodded once. Taking a deep breath, he called out in a clear voice. "Mark one!"

*****

Mykal heard the alarm claxon and his eyes snapped open. Sitting up quickly, his head spun slightly and his back and abdominal muscles protested. Groaning slightly, he turned himself and made to get out of the medical bed, ignoring the fact that he was in his underclothes. The medical sensors were chiming softly in the background, but Mykal ignored them as he made his way to the pile of clothes across the room. He ignored the door opening and raised a hand to forestall whatever the orderly was about to say and pointed back towards the door, never saying a word. The young woman huffed her irritation and strode out of the room with a purpose.

As he was pulling on his shirt, after donning his pants and boots, Brigit strode in; her hair a fiery red halo around her head, her emerald green eyes flashing in irritation.

"Don't even try to stop me, Princess."

"The thought never crossed my mind. Where exactly, were you planning on going, Major?"

"To the bridge; there is a battle going on." he replied shortly.

"Why is that? Colonel Davidov has the battle well in hand. None of the royal family is in danger there."

Mykal quickly pulled up his tracking program, noting the location of each member of the royal family, though he noted that Jason did not show up. "Then I will go to Security, to question the prisoner."

"The king has said that he will handle the questioning of his brother personally, that no one is to interfere." she said sweetly, a smirk playing on her pert little mouth. "You could always go down to the security center and watch."

Mykal's eyes narrowed at her and she faced him down without flinching. "What would you suggest then, Doctor?"

"As your doctor, I suggest you take it easy and rest; your body needs more time to recover from the massive amount of physical stress you just went through." Taking a step forward, she frowned slightly, her eyes softening. "As the woman that plans to spend the rest of her life with you, I am begging you to please slow down. We will make it through this one day without you saving us."

Mykal's shoulders slumped as he heard the pain in her voice. "I have to do something Brigit." he said softly. "I can't just sit here while we are under attack."

"I know, and I understand. I think it would be okay if we go to the security center. If only for moral support." she said with a small smile. "I need to check on Vivian anyway."

Mykal looked at her in confusion. "What is wrong with Vivian?"

"She is in a cell in the security center because she has the same kind of program in her head that you did. I've shut it down, but it's been in her head for years now, where yours was only a few weeks. It had not gotten a foothold in your mind, whereas my sister is flitting between complete control of herself and complete raving lunatic."

"Let's head that way then, shall we?"

******

Hans looked down at the slumped form of his younger brother, pity for what a retched creature he had become since Brigit had shut down his implants.

"Are you going to stand there and stare at me all day, brother?" Jason asked, looking up at Hans.

"Originally, I had planned to ask you why you chose to do what you did, but then I realized that I had no way of knowing if you were telling the truth or not; so I decided to hold off on that." Hans put his hands behind his back and paced the room back and forth for a few moments, "No, what I think I am going to ask you first, is if it was you or Marcus that started all this."

Jason chuckled humorlessly. "By all this, do you mean you losing your throne? It was my idea that I whispered into your son's ear, turning him against you. All this plotting and intrigue though? That is all Marcus." Jason smiled maliciously. "I heard the attack claxons, I felt the shift in the engine vibrations; in just a matter of moments, the first boarding party will be here and it will be the beginning of the end for you."

Before Hans could reply, there was a crackle and Mykal's voice was heard over the loud speaker in the room. "You mean the assault force that we just turned into a pair of refuse clouds? I'm sure all that scrap metal and dead lizard will be here to save you any second now." There was a pause. "Shmuck."

Hans chuckled as he heard the beginnings of Brigit berating Mykal for his last second insult before the speaker cut off.

"Well it's good to hear that his spirits are up a bit since the pain you caused him. She got it all out by the way. I was actually thinking about letting him have a turn with you, just as a bit of payback, but I figured I shouldn't tempt that devil with another soul. Figuratively speaking of course, since we know you don't have one."

"Here is what is going to happen to you. When we reach the planet; you will be taken into custody, hooked up to all kinds of sensors and electrodes, pumped full of chemicals and questioned within an inch of your life. Once that is done, depending on what mood your information puts me in, I may call for a swift execution to mercifully end your inevitable suffering." Hans turned and walked to the door. Just before stepping through, he looked over his shoulder at his brother one last time. "Most likely, I'm going to let Elaine decide what to do with you. You better put me in a good mood with the information you give me."

******

Mykal whistled at the ruthless ultimatum his King had just delivered. "And I thought I was bad."

"I still can't believe you called him an idiot. How childish can you be?" Brigit replied, her hands on her hips.

"That wasn't that childish. It was factual. Besides, if I don't find some humor, I'm going to start to lose it. Too much bad has been happening lately." Catching the glint in her eyes, he continued before she could speak. "And no, you are not even close to one of those bad things that happened recently. Besides, I called him a Shmuck. Not an idiot."

Brigit smiled. "Well, now that the battle is over, I suppose it would be okay to go see how my brother faired in his first combat action."

Mykal rolled his eyes. "You really are trying to make my life dull, aren't you?"

"Not really; just trying to slow you down long enough to heal. You don't seem to understand just how much stress your body has been under the last few weeks." The concern was evident in her eyes when she looked at him. "If your body can't keep up, how can you expect your mind to?"

"I know; I really do, but we haven't had the luxury of being careful lately. Once we get planet side, I'm sure we'll be able to slow down a bit." Brigit just stared at him with her arms crossed.

"Okay, well maybe not, but I promise to try and not get killed for a full week once we get back."

Her hand launched out and caught him on the cheek; hard enough to get his attention, but without any real force. "Not funny. That will never be funny."

Mykal walked forward and wrapped his arms around Brigit. "I do promise that I will do everything in my power to make sure I always come back to you." He kissed her on the forehead, and leaned down to her ear and whispered, "So when are you going to let me in on you and your mother's plan for me?"

She giggled lightly. "About two seconds after we put it in motion."

"Oh, so I'll have some warning then."

****

Tobias watched as the last of the fighters made their way back to the launch bays. "Damage reports in yet, Captain?"

"We lost two fighters to the second group, but both pilot capsules were recovered. Only two missiles were ever launched at the ship itself, and counter measure turrets took them out well outside danger range." Tobias nodded.

"Doesn't feel like it should, does it?" Captain Rimaldi asked.

"It seems like it should have been harder fought. I don't know; seems like it was too easy."

"Well, I'm not sure how it goes on the ground as much, but I know in naval action; if you can catch an ambush and turn it on them, it is never pretty." Rimaldi clapped the younger officer on the shoulder. "You did a good job of outthinking them. That's what we do as flag officers. One of the things I have noticed with the Carthanians is that they are not as strong, tactically, as we seem to be. Especially when we face them on naval terms as opposed to ground action. If we had not realized that we were heading into an ambush, we would have been decimated before we could have fought back."

Tobias nodded his understanding, still watching the plot. Just as he was moving to turn away, a short flicker of light caught his eye. Looking closer, he saw a weak flash of a foreign object.

"Captain Rimaldi, you said our downed pilots were picked up already?"

"Yes, one is injured and on his way to medical, but the other is doing fine."

"Then why are we picking up a life form out there?"