Gabatrix: The Terrorists of Batrice

He turned to the left to see that Li'lo and Jenta were not in the display camera's visual range in the living room. However, he could hear Li'lo snoring a little bit that he hoped wouldn't be picked up in the feed. The darkness helped concealed them even further. What could be seen of him was strict as intended. The link-up of over several light-years was accomplished like it was no big deal.

Finally, the display screen began to show something that took Mizu entirely off guard. He was expecting to see officer Javier. He could see the familiar office background, but instead, it was somebody else. It appeared almost as if a stranger, but she was a unique one.

She was staunchly quiet the moment that he looked at her through the display. Cigarette smoke had filled the air of the place that she sat. In her four-digit hand was a large wrapped cigarette that almost appeared as a cigar. Her shark-like features were apparent. She had long pointed ears and dark purple hair. It completely covered up one part of her yellow and black shark eye, but he could swear that he could see a black strap. It indicated that she might be wearing an eye-patch behind the hair. She had an elongated snout and jaws that looked like she could tear a man in half with one bite. She had dark gray smooth skin to her that could be seen from the areas that the uniform did not cover. She had the rank of a petty officer 1^st class.

Her size was enormous as Mizu could compare the time Javier had sat down in the chair compared to this alien woman's size. He only knew it was a woman because the UHN jumpsuit uniform concealed her breasts alone that she wore. Calm and completely composed, at first, she overlooked Mizu until her own shark-like eye gazed upon him. Meanwhile, she brought the cigarette to her mouth as she began to take a deep puff of it. He immediately recognized what type of Itrean she was.

"A Shal'rein?" Mizu questioned in the display.

"Hmmm....." the woman said in the communication channel. "From the dark-lighting, it appears that you must be petty officer Mizu."

Her voice......It almost had no accent to it at all. It was said in the most perfect and articulate way English could be spoken. The way she even said it was slightly slow and methodical. There was no emotion to it in an almost monotone-like fashion. He watched as she breathed out the secondhand smoke from her large snout. In some ways, it intimidated Mizu outright, even though she was further away than he ever imagined.

"Um.....yeah," Mizu replied. "I.....I was a petty officer......not anymore."

She took a deep breath as she went and tapped the cigarette to what might have been an ashtray. Her one eye looked away from him as she seemed to be in deep thought. It left Mizu in wonderment of who she was.

"Shame......" she said. "To have taken a good pilot as yourself and discard it like he was nothing."

"Ah.....who are you?" he asked her. "You apparently had something important to tell me. You called through Javier's office computer.....and you know me somehow."

"I know you well, yes," the mysterious woman replied. "I had a chance to learn about the recent events that transpired between you, Li'lo, and Jenta.....I have to say.....that was a particularly well-established escape maneuver that you made."

She was avoiding the question he asked. On the one hand, he found it frustrating, but this woman knew things that he didn't know were possible. She spoke as if she already knew where the direction of the wind was going. Her cigarette smoking was the only sign that she was active.

"I......I don't know who you are. You apparently......"

"Perhaps I can answer your question with a few questions," she interrupted him. "Why would I call you at your time at night? Why do I know this, and why would that Li'lo that you saved know me the moment she saw me?"

Mizu wasn't a moron as he started to look away. The Shal'rein were one of the sub-species of the Itreans. They were outright menacing in appearance. Some of the families lived with the T'rintar clan, and the rest lived in the violently aggressive Shal'rein clan. Mizu had his reasons for being nervous upon looking at her. He could even see her fiddling with the cigarette as her one eye peered into him. His mind had told him everything that he needed to know as he looked over to Li'lo's direction.

"You.....you are the defector that Li'lo mentioned," Mizu quietly explained as he looked back at the Shal'rein. "Li'lo mentioned the fact that she helped a Shal'rein woman in some hearing that.....that I just finished up. I only heard stories that you were stationed on Aphadus."

"Impressive...." The Shal'rein woman said as she looked away from the view screen of the display. She continued to smoke her cigarette. "My name is Shira, and yes.....I left the Shal'rein clan awhile back. I do not need to tell you any more than that."

"Ah......" Mizu couldn't believe it. This woman stood out to him a lot. The fact that she was wearing a UHN uniform meant that she was enlisted. Regardless, what was her aim? Why did she......

"You are probably wondering on why I contacted you," Shira explained as she breathed out the smoke from her mouth. "I wanted to make sure that my sources are correct and my information is correct."

"How? How did get a hold of Javier's office computer?"

"He is my mate.....just as Li'lo and Jenta are yours."

His eyes widened as she briefly smiled at him. It was as if she was reading him like a book. She knew everything about him. This alone intimidated Mizu as he thought more and more about it.

"Are you ready to answer my questions?" Shira asked.

"Ummm....yeah....."

"You are the brother of the man that was slain on the UHN Columbus.....how did that make you feel?"

"A......Angry," he answered.

"Killed by the Emphra.....the loss of your brother was unnecessary. Why is your anger such as it is?"

"It was.....needless. Died on his first mission......didn't even get a fucking chance.....How do you know how he died?"

She took tapped her cigarette on the ashtray again as she held it away with her fingers. She took a deep breath as she seemed to think about it.

"When one is in my situation, you must ensure that information reaches to you," Shira calmly explained. "Working for the highest chain of command of a colony planet can get you far these days.......the wisdom of that chain of command is one that will be of their greatest benefit. To continue on, however, I agree with your emotional state in regards to his death. The way the mission was conducted was one that achieved great results regardless of the command structure that put him there. You should not grieve for the loss of your brother. The fact was that nobody should have made it off the Columbus at all. The Emphra are more dangerous than they ever seem to be. Your brother helped a team escape from that ship before they consumed them all. Whose fault was it that resulted in your brother's death?"

"The Itreans for not wiping it out, to begin with," Mizu answered. "No.....that is wrong of me to say that......"

"No. That is correct, but only partly. We should have wiped them all out. The Emphra will not stop at their mission to consume the galaxy. They are still out there. We failed to stop them all, and it resulted in the death of your brother. With that said......who else is responsible?"

"The people that put him there....."

She gave a slow nod to him. "Correct. Bad leadership is often a good reason for needless death. It can be a waste of resources in potential experience. If it weren't for your brother, the Emphra would have grown in number on that ship and went on to continue spreading. Your brother managed to achieve something despite the bad leadership that put him there, to begin with."

Mizu admitted that despite her menacing appearance, he was beginning to like her. She seemed very smart and knew what she was talking about. If anything, the fact that she knew about the events like it was nothing was what shocked him the most. She had done her homework, and it was showing.

"My next question," Shira asked. "How did you manage to get off of Fort Batrice?"

"I......escaped......I helped Li'lo and Jenta as we fought our way out."

She gave a brief nod as she could see her cigarette was burning out. She reached over and grabbed another cigarette from wherever she had it stored. She then reached over, lit the next cigarette, and shoved the burning used butt into the ashtray. The smoke in her alcove was apparent as she resumed her speech to him.

"That doesn't answer the question," Shira continued. "How did you escape?"

"I had a gun....." Mizu tried to explain. "I went and shot at several people......we had a firefight all the way to the shuttle. I took a shuttle, and we flew out before we were rescued by the T'rintar clan warship."

"Hmmm.....you had a gun.....very interesting."

"How much do you know about my escape?"

"I know as much as the report tells me.....essentially what you told me just now. I wish to hear it from you, however."

"Why is it so important?"

"For simple reason," Shira explained. "I find this event to be....perplexing. How does a person like yourself manage to escape one of the most heavily secured locations in the UWA? I am attempting to figure it out."

"Ugh.....a part of me is tired," Mizu said. "I wish you contacted me after I got my sleep."

"Does a part of you feel at unease when it comes to your escape?"

"Umm.....yeah."

Shira went a took a puff of her cigarette. "There is some wisdom in your emotion right now."

"I don't understand."

"You feel that things don't make sense," Shira tried to explain. "A bombing goes off on one of the most heavily secured UHN facilities. A few days later, an escape is made on one of the most heavily secured UHN facilities. A standoff almost occurs next to one of the most heavily secured UHN facilities. Meanwhile, I am told by my mate that you had something that exposed a conspiracy that was taking place.......I have to admit.....it is quite clever. I have to give Fleet Admiral Baxton much credit in how he performed."

"I......." Mizu began to feel a cold chill go through him. Shira's working left eye was transfixed on his facial inflections. She briefly smiled at him.

"You know it, don't you?" Shira continued. "They had nothing but to gain in letting you make your valiant escape. Two supposed terrorists escape along with the man that they gave a gun to. I admit, if I wanted to help a regime come to power, I would have done it exactly as the Prime Minister and Fleet Admiral of Batrice would have done it. Slow......methodical.....it is the only way for such a regime to take power, to begin with."

"They.....let me escape?" Mizu questioned himself as she listened.

"Hmmm.....quite clever. Place a bomb, try to kill the people you dislike, and then place the blame on the fellow staff of the people you dislike. That alone would stir the population of Batrice. You could scare the population into doing whatever you want."

"No......" Mizu said as he shook his head. "No, they couldn't."

"You fabricate the recordings.....I imagine by now that Fleet Admiral Baxton knew that he had a dilemma with you as you were the only one that directly saw it."

"He.......did," Mizu said as he continued to think more about it.

"And yet he still ensured that you had a gun to guard the very people that did it. He certainly wanted you to conduct your little escape."

"But.....it can't be. I was hit......Jenta took a bullet too."

"Does that part convince you that it was fake? You are still alive to tell the tale. I am sure that it didn't matter to them if you died or not. Li'lo and Jenta could have still been killed in the end, either. Regardless, Fort Batrice would be way more heavily defended, even it's interior. Baxton would not be a fool to let you escape......unless he wanted you to. All I know is that if I wanted to show that the UWA was incapable of making good decisions, it would have been the entire mess you were a part of. That shuttle was there for you.....the journey must have exhausting."

"We made it, though," Mizu tried to argue back.

"And yet there would be multiple times they could have stopped you. Even the shuttles were not locked down, were they not?"

Mizu was thinking about it more and more. The darkness that he felt was all coming out again. It was the lingering fear that he had. It had to be true. While the escape was barely victorious, was it possible to make it that way?

"The shuttles......" Mizu said as he felt himself shake a little bit. "It is true that they would be locked down in case something like this happened. Baxton......he knew that I would be angry with.....the gun......they still let me do watch.......I......"

"Do not feel angry at this, Mizu," Shira explained. "You have answered a question that I was wondering about the moment that I saw it on the news. The fact that you contacted Javier was a sign that you were doing everything that you could do under the circumstances."

Mizu felt his hands clench together. "Those fuckers used me.......they fucking used me......they....."

"As I said, Baxton was smart in his actions. I think he was hoping you would do it, and you did. It wouldn't have truly mattered either way, but it would be better to impress a population that the UWA is harboring fugitives that committed murder. Yes.....I imagine that Baxton is smiling at you for your good job."

It had to be confirmed as Mizu truly thought about it. There was a reason why he, Li'lo, and Jenta barely escaped with their lives. The resistance should have outright stopped them. It wasn't just a coincidence.

"It seemed so convincing....." Mizu remarked as he tried to recompose himself.

"Hmmm.....I wouldn't be so upset," Shira said as she took a big puff of her cigarette. "Through surviving of such battles do we gain experience. That experience can ultimately lead to victory. I have two questions to ask of you."

"What is it?"

"Do you feel that the UHN made the wisest of decisions in kicking you out of the military?"

He thought about it as he felt a sense of anger. "No. I want to fly."

"It truly is a shame that they committed to that. While the actions were most likely out of political reasons, the fact was that they committed a vast waste of resources in removing a pilot from service.....such as yourself. Would you consider that an act of bad leadership?"

"Yes.....absolutely," he confirmed.

"Would you be available if I contacted you again in the next couple of weeks?" Shira asked.

"Yeah, I would. Why though?"

"When the time comes, I will need some experienced pilots."

"Dah.....how?"

Shira went and reached for something that was far away from the desk. She pulled out a large revolver-like magnum. It was very crude in design and look like it was still in the process of being constructed. She seemed to admire its looks for a little bit as he could clearly see all of it on display.

"Leave that to me," Shira answered with a composed smile.

The End (For Now)