Chapter 17: Chapter 17

AMY

When Amy got to her quarters, she wanted to get inside and just have a bit of a lie-down. ~After all, it’s not every day you get shot, healed, conduct an interrogation, and meet aliens~.

She lay on the black cloud-soft cover on the bed and closed her eyes, but she could not sleep. Something felt wrong. Like a bit of annoying chicken stuck between two teeth, something about the day just bugged her.

It took her a while to think about everything that happened and parse all the crazy bits out and examine them before it hit her. ~Simon said I was close to something in the Doctor Ripper investigation.~

~Yet what could it be? And more importantly, what made Ripper think that?~

She sat up and sighed before walking out to her white-and-red lounge area. It really hit home to her what leaving with Izzy and the boys meant. Someone else in her overworked station would have to pick up her cases.

She sighed again and dropped to the soft floor to do a couple of push-ups. Physical exercise helped her think. Just losing herself in the motions allowed her hindbrain to work shit out.

“Is something wrong, Amy? Would you like some exercise equipment?” the voice of Prime barged into her quiet reflection. She stopped and rolled onto her back.

“No, that’s okay, Prime. I’m just trying to think,” Amy said. ~Wait, isn’t Prime meant to be some super-intelligent computer? Maybe she could help. I could at least talk things out with her.~

“Prime, I was wondering if I could use your big brain?” she asked.

“What can I help with, Amy?”

“Simon and Cadman were contracted to kill me, but something about that bugs me. Simon said I got too close to something about Dr. Ripper. I don’t know what that is, but what feels itchy is…how did Ripper know?”

“What are you asking me to do?” Prime said.

“I’m not sure,” Amy said. “If you could, I’d ask you to remote login to my computer terminal at the station.”

“I can do that,” Prime replied. Amy looked up, and a chair formed up out of the floor in front of a holographic screen.

“Nice one,” Amy said, getting to her feet and crossing to the chair.

“How compartmentalized is this data?” Prime asked as she sat down.

“What do you mean?”

“How many individuals have access to this information? You asked how he knew. Logically, this Dr. Ripper you spoke of either accessed the same data as you or has communication links with someone who does.”

Amy paused, hands lifted to the glowing keyboard in front of her.

~Shit. That’s the simplest solution, isn’t it? He either hacked the police servers and took the info, or he’s got someone on the inside.~

She didn’t like that last thought. It meant someone she worked with, someone she trusted to have her back, betrayed her.

“Can you tell if someone has accessed the data from outside the station?”

“One moment,” Prime replied.

Amy bit her thumbnail, one leg jiggling up and down. ~C’mon, Ripper, be a hacker. I don’t want it to be a cop on the take.~

“No,” Prime replied.

“Fuck. Can you get a list of everyone who can access these files?”

“Yes, I—Amy, Izzy wants to speak with you,” Prime said.

“Hey, Izzy.”

“Want to come down and join me and the boys for a meal?” Izzy asked.

“Can’t. In the zone. Talk later,” she said, looking at the screen as a row of names, with hers at the top, formed.

~Let’s hunt for someone dirty.~ She grimaced at the thought.

It took thirty minutes for her and Prime to eliminate her fellow officers, leaving one name staring at her. She could not believe it, but the more she thought about it, the more it hung together.

~Simon and Cadman must have picked up my trail when I left the meeting. He set it up just so they could track me. Now, what the fuck do I do?~

“So, if this is the person who released the information to an outside source, do you want to know who that is?” Prime asked.

“Are you telling me you can find Dr. Ripper?”

“Amy, I don’t believe you appreciate my full capabilities. I’m not a primitive computer. Your planet’s attempts at security are rudimentary at best.”

“Do it,” Amy said with a grin. ~Months of work, years since the first body linked. God, this feels like cheating, but it’ll be so worth it just so the police can nail that murdering psychopath.~

The screen in front of her flashed a confusing series of images, seemingly unrelated. Everything from traffic camera photos to mobile phone triangulation maps to bank records.

All things that would take court orders and human investigators months if not years to trace, Prime did in seconds.

As a detective, she knew that sometimes one tiny detail was what made a case. One thing, leading to something else. As the picture in front of her built up, she could see the hidden life of a very secretive man, and dread filled her.

As the final image appeared, she stared at the screen in shock. She knew the man in that car, with a blonde woman at his side identified as Dr. Ripper’s latest victim.

~District Attorney Harrison!~

“Prime, can I make a phone call from here? I’m going to inform my captain.”

“You wish to use your telecommunications device? I can do that.”

Amy went to her bag and pulled out her phone, scrolling through her contacts until she found her captain’s personal mobile number.

She weighed the device in her hand as she collected her thoughts and then pushed the dial button.

“Detective Costello, how is your day off?”

“Captain Carter, I have some bad news.”

“Is there any other kind?” Captain Carter said with a sigh. “Out with it, Costello, and talk loud, you sound like you’re in a tunnel.”

“I’m not coming back, sir.”

“What the hell, Costello? You’re quitting without notice?”

“Yeah.”

“You better have a damned good reason. You’re one of my best officers, kid.”

“I’ve got a doozy, sir, and you’re not going to like it,” Amy sighed, standing up and walking to the holographic display. She touched the glowing part of the screen that sent her captain the information she’d gathered.

“I just sent you a file. Michael Harrison is a monster, sir,” she said, feeling relieved she’d dropped the bombshell.

“I had two contract killers come after me earlier today, courtesy of Dr. Ripper. He’s Dr. Ripper, sir. All the evidence is in that file I just sent you.

“If I hadn’t been very lucky, sir, I’d be dead, and I’d like Ripper to think his men succeeded.”

Silence from the other end of the phone, yet she could still hear her captain breathing. “This is why I have one Simon Van Dijk in the cells with a signed confession, isn’t it?”

“I can’t say, sir. Let’s just say you don’t need to worry about me, captain. Self-imposed protective custody. Where I am headed, Dr. Ripper will never find me.”

***

After speaking with her captain, she felt jittery and nervous. Did she do the right thing?

She decided to go explore the ship and distract herself and headed for the door, only to have it open and the boys rush in, still smelling of hamburgers, and still carrying the last dregs of their soda.

After a brief explanation for the source of the junk food, she asked Prime to get her a salad from Benito’s and listened to their adventures as she steadily munched.

When the topic of what they’d miss arose, she proffered television and the Internet.

Prime casually informed them that at this distance she was quite capable of receiving both television signals and accessing the Internet through a communications satellite.

In the blink of an eye, the boys disappeared back to their rooms.

By now, Izzy would be with Mikhlas learning about the Realm. She just sat in her room, feeling restless. ~Fuck it, time to explore the ship~.

As she left, she simply picked a direction she hadn’t taken before and went for it.

The long hall, only broken by a few doors, didn’t inspire her, and she hit on the idea of asking Prime. “Prime, what’s in this corridor?” she asked.

“These are crew suites and private guest suites. I do not recommend that you open any of the doors.”

She got to the end of the corridor and turned in the only direction it would let her. As she walked, a strange sound came from one of the rooms at the end.

The door stood open, and she heard the sound of metal hitting metal. She heard a few grunts and the sound of boots on the floor. ~Someone is fighting?~ She walked up to the door slowly and peered in.

A large open room, bare of all furnishings, holding only two opponents fighting with long silver blades. As they pivoted, she recognized Silian.

She bit her lip, admiring his shirtless physique, with his black pants hung low on his hips and two long thin silver blades in his hands.

She tried to make out his opponent, but the matte-black figure looked and moved like a ninja, limbs blurring with speed.

After a quick flurry of blows, they stepped back, circling each other, and she could get a better look. ~There’s no face~.

Without any warning, the black figure lunged, and Amy couldn’t take her eyes off the way Silian moved.

He moved with such speed and grace. She watched his defined muscles flex as he delivered a few hard blows. It looked like a dance from where Amy stood.

It happened so fast, she wasn’t ready for it. An infinitesimal overextension on the part of the ninja, and Silian moved in, using one blade to deflect an attack before plunging both blades into the figure’s torso.

As the sharp metal exited out its back, a gasp escaped her lips. Silian’s head shot to the door, and his eyes locked with hers. “End bout,” he said, withdrawing the blades.

“Yes, First,” the figure replied in the voice of Prime before the black figure collapsed into fine grains of dust that merged with the floor.

He turned his body to face her, his breathing heavy, and his body covered in a fine sheen of sweat.

“Sorry,” she said, feeling relieved and somewhat of a fool for thinking he’d just run through one of the crew. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

She shrugged at him before turning away from the door.

“It’s all right, Amy. Join me,” he said.

Amy felt her heart flip. ~Is he mad? I can’t fight like that!~

She turned, frowning at him. “I don’t do knives,” she said, crossing her arms and stepping into the room.

Silian dropped the two blades he held, and they vanished into the floor. He watched her enter with a predator-like stare as she moved to stand a few feet from him.

“What was that?” she asked to fill the silence.

“Prime’s combat form. She is a good sparring partner to keep my skills sharp.”

“Right.”

“You owe me a rematch,” he said, moving to the wall which obediently opened.

He took out a glass of water and drank, and she watched the powerful frame of him, wondering how she’d ever managed to get the drop on him, even for a moment.

“How do you figure that?”

“When I fight, I usually fight to the death. You are still alive.”

“That’s a little gung-ho. Besides, it was your own fault. You tackled me first,” she said, not really liking the idea of fighting him to the death right now.

She’d done MAC in basic, and the officer safety program with the Vancouver police force, but she suspected that none of that training could stand up to his level of combat training.

“I only did what was expected of me. Anyone else would be dead for threatening the queen.”

He came back to the mat and began to circle her, his bright-blue eyes glaring at her.

~Wait, Izzy said something about their eyes. Think, Amy, is blue mad or not?~ His face gave her no indication if he was joking.

“Sore loser?” she asked, not expecting it to sound like a challenge.

~My big mouth is going to get me killed one day, and it could very well be today~. She watched him as he circled her, taking a step closer to her every time.

“I don’t lose.”

“You don’t?”

“Where I come from, we fight to the death. If I lose, I die. I am still here, am I not?” he asked. He moved only a few feet away from her now.

“I’m not fighting you, Silian. I can’t fight like you do. Besides, one near-death experience today is enough.” Getting her ass kicked wasn’t the kind of entertainment she’d set out looking for when she left her room.

“Then I will teach you.” He stopped, straightened from his combat crouch, then took a deep breath.

“What?” she asked, surprised by his abrupt turnaround.

“Are you afraid?”

“You do kind of have a mad look in your eyes,” she said. He took another step closer to her and leaned forward, his face only a foot away from hers.

“Your first lesson is this…intimidation is the key to any fight. The moment your opponent shows even the smallest sign of fear, the fight is yours.

“They doubt, and those doubts mount in their mind until it is the only voice that can be heard,” he said, smiling at her in an unsettling way.

She remembered some lantern-jawed drill sergeant in the army saying the same thing, but she wasn’t going to let him bully her. He might be huge, strong, and very intimidating, but she wasn’t one to back down from a fight.

He stared into her eyes and as she stared right back, she knew she couldn’t let him treat her like some kind of rook.

With a quick move, she smashed him in the jaw with the bottom of her fist, taking a few steps back to give herself room. He didn’t come after her. Instead, he rubbed his chin, an admiring look on his face.

“Lesson two: The element of surprise,” she said, her jaw set and ready for him. But he began to laugh. He wiped the drop of blood off his lip and looked at her.

“Good, yes, show me your fighting fire. Let Infernia flow within you. Surprise. A good lesson learned,” he said and moved toward her, his feet quick on the mat.

~Damn, he’s fast for such a big guy.~

She backed away and as he drew closer, she caged her head with her arms expecting him to swing at her.

Instead, he circled around quickly and as she changed direction, her feet hit the edge of the mat and she stumbled. As she fell one of his arms snaked out, grabbing her by the top of her pants and arresting her fall.

“Lesson three: Garia is all around us,” he said, taking a small step forward that lowered her even closer to the hard floor. “We must be mindful of her surfaces.”

She frowned at him, knowing he saved her from landing on her ass. She opened her mouth to retort and he let go.

She fell on the floor and growled, rolling to her knees, and kept the momentum going, sweeping out a leg hoping to land a blow at the back of his knee.

At the last moment, he turned his leg, and the top of her foot struck his shin. It felt like she just kicked a steel girder. Wincing, she backed away, getting to her feet and trying to move to return feeling back into her foot.

“Lesson four: Prime teaches all things, including relative bone density,” he said, giving her a moment.

~Patronizing arsehole. Is that it, Amy? All you got is one surprise move?~

She looked at the size of him and knew her only chance would be subterfuge. She could feel that army sergeant egging her on to find a way, always find a way.

She dove forward and rolled, coming up behind his legs as he tried to turn into her, and reached up to grab him by the back of his pants and pull him over.

As he landed on the mat, she pushed his legs hard and managed to get her foot into his armpit and lock his hand across one of her wrists. Enough pressure, and she’d be able to pop the shoulder.

“Lesson five,” she huffed. “Don’t be patronizing.”

Their eyes locked, and she could see a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. Still lying on the floor, he lifted his arm, despite her foot digging in.

Like doing a simple bicep curl, he bodily picked her up off the mat as her foot slipped off his sweat-slicked skin. He held her above his body for a moment.

“Lesson six: Aquaria reduces friction in all things,” he said and then quickly rolled, pulling her body onto the mat and pressing his weight onto her.

~Damn it.~ She knew there was nothing she could do now. He was simply too big and too strong for her to match in a wrestling move.

The shock of the movement made Amy pause and stare up at him. She felt her heart racing in her chest.

His face rested so close she could feel his deep breaths on her skin and a smell, like a candied orange peel, coming off him.

He looked down at her chest as if looking at her beating heart before his eyes again met hers.

~Fine, if this is how he wants to play, then I can play.~

She relaxed her eyes as she looked at him, smiling at him. A flash of a frown ran over his face before he began to move his lips closer to hers.

She lifted one hand onto his chest and touched his skin. ~He is so warm.~ Unnaturally warm, in her mind.

With her other hand, she reached down and undid her belt buckle. It was an old gift, and one of those belt buckles with two small rounded prongs to go through a simple strap of thick leather.

It came away easily in her hand and just before his lips touched hers, she pressed the metal into his neck.

“Lesson whatever: I’m a sneaky bitch,” she breathed as he backed off.

“Lesson seven: Always be prepared to meet Morkai in pursuit of your goals,” he whispered and moved forward regardless.

“Silian, you are summoned to the bridge,” Prime said into the room.

He pulled back and his smile faded. Amy removed the belt buckle from his neck, and he levered himself up, holding out one hand to help her to her feet.

He held her hand for a second before simply saying, “Next lesson tomorrow, Chatra,” and jogged out of the room.

Amy let out a long-frustrated breath. “What did he call me?”

“Chatra. In the ancient language of Homeworld, it means ‘honored student.’ It is a mark of respect toward you, while still implying that you have much to learn.”

Amy looked around but there were no cameras. “God, that man is intense,” she said.

“He needs to be,” Prime answered her.

“Why, Prime?” she asked.

“Silian is the first officer. He’s second in command of this ship, but the name First means he is the first one to risk himself for the ship. He is expendable, and therefore the first to find trouble.”

Amy stood there, surrounded by the scent of him in this room and shook her head. ~So, he risks himself for others? Gee, Amy, could he sound more attractive?~

“So, his job is dangerous, is that what you are saying, Prime?”

“Any First that survives for six months in the Fleet is entitled to apply for a Captaincy. Yet Silian has served as First on this ship for more than five years.

“Aside from the captain himself, and one of the Royal Guard, he’s arguably the most dangerous man in the Realm.”

Amy frowned to herself and walked out. Prime was unlike any computer she had ever seen. ~She does seem to have a personality of her own. Why’d she tell me that?~