Greinar

Selling out

As they walked the corridor leading to the room where the reception would be held his heart sank. They were on their way to meet these people, at long last. Six months of preparation for them were over, and the moment had arrived.

He hadn’t thought it was possible to feel any worse than he’d been feeling these six months but he did. It was always like that, wasn’t it? Just when you thought things were as bad as they could be, the world sneered, stuck out it tongue and said: Yeah? How about this?

Being down on Feistel this time had been worse than before. At least before, he had hoped they could win. Overwhelming odds or not, he’d thought that if they managed to make Forte bleed they’d give up and leave. The losses were heavy but the hope had kept them strong. Kept them fighting. Those among the men who’d been slaves under Nordon before Forte took the sector over mumbled something about Nordon not being a gentler master than Forte had been, but they weren’t going back to that, were they? They were going to be free. To rule themselves. To find a way to make the planet theirs and survive.

Being captured by Forte and then recruited into Misc had changed all that. Sometimes he wished fervently that it had never happened. That he’d stayed ignorant of bigger events and just kept on fighting, holding the resistance together; surviving. When he’d been told of the plans for Feistel he’d felt sick to his stomach. He still did. Oh yes, Forte was going to be kicked off Feistel, and they’d have help doing that, and then...then it was back to the mines. Back to being slaves, just with a new master; this private organization called Aegis. Where the best they could hope for was more humane conditions then before. Not humane conditions though. Just...more so. Despite his mind conditioning and love for Misc and his superior, Lipzen, he’d been horrified and had made himself ask Lipzen how long. How long until his people could be freed? Well, Lipzen had said, one generation, maybe two. We’ll see.

Two generations. He’d thought he’d sick up, right there, on the floor in front of everyone.

„This is the best option available to you,” Lipzen had said, not unkindly. „Even if you managed to throw off Forte, which is unlikely, you’d only get Nordon instead and let me tell you, they do not treat their industrial planets any better than Forte. In fact, they’re sometimes worse .”

He had nodded, dumbly.

- It’s not just this planet, Hayden, just in this sector there are hundreds of planets, just like Feistel, where the situation is similiar.

- I don’t care about other planets, I care about Feistel, about my people down there.

- Well, be that as it may, this is the situation. Aegis is coming here in the sole purpose of finding an investment. This is not a rescue mission. Feistel was found to be a feasible option. If we simply turned everyone free there the planet would no longer be financially viable. But like I said, your people will be better off than they are now and better off than with either Forte or Nordon as owner.

It all sounded to perfectly logical, reasonable even. He still didn’t like it. He liked it even less when he was on the planet again. Leading his people into skirmishes, hit and runs, sabotage. All the while they were fed info from Lipzen and his people, making the successes more numerous and the casualties lighter. The prize had still been high though, hundreds more had lost their lives for the cause. The cause. He winced. They all believed he was back from wherever he’d been, back to lead them to freedom. He didn’t know how in the world he managed to fool them. Perphaps if Gunny Jack had still been alive he’d have seen through it, Hayden didn’t know. But he had fooled them. The lies had become easier to tell, more automatic and they’d all bought it.

Every day he hated himself more. He couldn’t look at himself in the mirror. He’d become someone else. A traitor.

He didn’t think Rius, Bonn, Wick and the others took it as hard. They’d never committed themselves in quite the same way he had, even if they’d given the resistance their best. They had accepted that this was the best option available and moved on. Sometimes he envied them. He couldn’t sleep at night. He was haunted by the knowledge that he was working towards putting the manacles around his people’s wrists again. His people, his friends, who bled and died for this dream of freedom. Who believed in him. Who trusted him, Hayden, the leader of the resistance. Who followed him unquestioningly.

No sleep for the wicked.

He just tossed and turned between the sweatsoaked sheets until he gave up and paced the room instead. Stared into the darkness and wanted to howl. He didn’t know when he’d last slept an entire night. It seemed ages ago. Due to his nanobots he only needed 2-3 hours sleep each night to maintain himself and that was probably the reason why he hadn’t collapsed yet. The fights were fierce and he and his team mates had donated their fair share of blood to the planet. Things were rough. He didn’t mind though. No, he relished it. By punishing himself, by throwing himself recklessly into the fray he took the edge of his self-hatred and self-recriminations. He got a respite for a while. He was the first one in and the last one out, driving himself relentlessly. He ate when he remembered to and sometimes discovered that he hadn’t eaten an entire day. The nanos wouldn’t leave him alone until he’d forced something down at that point. Everything tasted like ashes. He lost weight and some of his clothes didn’t fit anymore. Nicole had been concerned.

- You’re driving yourself too hard. You have to take better care of yourself, Hayden.

He’d shrugged.

-I’m doing my job. Isn’t that all that counts?

She’d continued in the same vein but he’d waived her off and told her he didn’t have time for this. She brought it up regularly but he paid her no mind.

The others didn’t seem to notice.

Death sometimes appealed to him but that would be the coward’s way out. Whatever he was, he wasn’t a coward. He was going to see this through and do his best to ensure that his people got as good a deal as possible. He didn’t trust any of the others to do that. They didn’t care enough.

And now it was done. The six months had passed and they’d been picked up and moved to the Dominance ship Immolate where he and his team mates met with a Mister Foran who took them to the rendez-vous point, where they would meet representatives from Aegis. That meeting was tonight, waiting around the corner.

The hallway ended in a big, round room. The walls were transparent and he could see the stars all around, like glowing jewels on black silk. Couches and coffee-tables were spread haphazardly around the room, and in the corner was a big and shiny mahogany bar with a bartender, wiping some glasses. In the middle of the room a group of people was waiting. He recognized Foran and his captain, Grace Medas, but the other five surely belonged to Aegis.

He’d sometimes had people tell him he had a powerful presence, that he excuded competence and just had a way about him that told people he was someone to be reckoned with. He’d never quite understood what that meant until today.

These people were like that. It was clear as day that they were all people to be reckoned with. Three of the men were warriors to the core. Big, heavily muscled and emanating that aura of danger. Predators, like him. The third man was tall and slightly built, with a grin that seemed to hang there more from habit than anything else. The fourth person was a tall, slim woman, with long, black hair and a serious face. Three warriors and two squishees.

Foran gave a big wave and said: „And here they are, the team from Feistel.”

The group stepped forward and they met them midway. Introductions were made and people smiled and nodded, some politely, some enthusiastically. He didn’t do either. Introducing himself was a task enough, plastering a smile on was beyond him.

People started mingling and chatting but he leaned against the wall and watched them move around, like well choreographed puppets on stage. He didn’t know what to feel. They’d achieved their goal planetside and were now ready to hand Feistel over like a platter of roasted duck. To these people, the new slave-owners. Feistel’s best option.

He felt defeated.

The Aegis warriors, Wrath, Nexus and Wrigley, were talking in the middle of the room. They seemed to be having a grand time; laughing easily, sipping drinks and once in a while punching each other in the shoulder or making some other gesture. Rius and Bonn were talking to the man who’d introduced himself as Samuel Elari, the security officer of the team. The thief. The woman, the rogue Laran Rey, caught his eye. She was standing alone, with an untouched drink in her hand and though there was a slight smile playing on her lips she seemed wary. She had a look about her. A familiar look. A look that told him she’d seen things and that they weighed on her shoulders. He should know, he had that look himself.

Suddenly she seemed aware that he was looking at her and met his eyes. He looked away and took a gulp of his drink. He didn’t know what it was, he’d simply grabbed the nearest glass on the tray presented to him when he walked in.

It tasted bitter.

———— *** —————

Laran was torn from her study of the people present when she became aware that someone was watching her. She moved her head and her eyes met those of Hayden, the leader of the resistance, who lounged against the wall, next to the bar. As soon as their eyes met he dropped his and took a swig of his drink. He grimaced and put the glass down on the bar table. Judging by the colour of the drink in the tall glass it had been fruit juice.

She didn’t know what to make of him. When his group had entered the reception room he’d been the last one to appear and yet he drew the eye like a magnet. The others had seemed happy to be there, relieved that their mission was over and the next phase was about to begin. Even excited. Hayden, decidedly, did not.

They’d all looked the worse for the wear, scarred, tired and worn but he...He looked terrible. They’d been given photos of the new people they were about to work with and she was shocked to see how much he had changed. His clothes seemed to hang loose on his frame, not a small feat considering his tall and imposing Geneler build. His face was drawn and haggard and his eyes...his eyes looked haunted. That was the first word that sprang to mind. Now, there was a tortured soul if she ever met one. Those eyes seemed to burn in that chiseled, black face. Unlike the others a smile had been pointedly absent from him when the introductions were made. When she shook hands with him he’d looked at her with such a curious look in his eyes that it left her unsettled. There had been such a mix of emotions there. Anger, resentment, pain and overwhelmingly, defeat.

She hadn’t really stopped to think what this job, this Feistel mission, meant for him and the others. Not really. She and her team had just been glad that Lipzen had such an asset, the leader of the resistance in his payroll, and his buddies too. That their work would be made that much easier! Now that she did think about it, it hit her how horrible this must be for them. Well, at least for him; judging by the others’ care-free demeanor they didn’t seem to be particularly bothered about it. Him though...

He’d been the leader of the resistance. He’d worked his way up and under his command the resistance had become a power to be reckoned with. They’d made Forte bleed but they’d paid the price in full, with blood and death aplenty. Lipzen had said the resistance was a cult of personality, of Hayden’s personality, and she’d thought the phrasing demeaning at the time. She still did. She didn’t find it strange in the least that the resistance had chosen this Geneler to be their leader, and worshipped him. He had a powerful aura and inspired confidence. He’d used his experience to make the resistance more effective and had proved to be quite good at guessing the enemies’ moves. He had been fighting for freedom along the workers on Feistel and then he’d been forced to betray them. To deliver them into the hands of her and her team, to be made slaves again.

She sighed. She truly wished there had been another way. They were going to quadruple the cost of each slave so that each one could live a decent enough life but it didn’t change the fact that a slave was still a slave. Hayden knew that and she couldn’t imagine how awful that knowledge must feel. He was, after all, the heart and soul of the resistance.

She studied him carefully. Though he seemed to be lounging casually she noticed there was nothing casual about him. He was a tightly coiled spring and tension emanated from him. The way he kept himself so carefully contained spoke volumes of the turmoil inside. She was pretty good at reading people. Hayden was standing right on the edge of the abyss, looking down. This was not good. Not good at all.

She strolled off towards him and offered a smile when he watched her approach. He didn’t smile back. In fact, he looked hostile. She’d seen her fair share of hostility in her time but had to admit that looking up into that cruel, alien face made her feel a twinge of fear. He was, after all, two meters tall and a warrior to boot. Genelers were generally considered honorable warriors but also the most fearsome. She stomped on her anxiety and leant against the wall, facing the room. She needed to smooth things out. If they were going to work together, things couldn’t be left they way they were. This was a catastrophe waiting to happen.

- For what’s it’s worth, I am really sorry that there is no other way.

He didn’t respond and seemed to ignore her, in fact. She bit her lip but plodded on.

- I promise that we will do what we can to make things as good as possible for the people down there.

- The slaves.

His tone was clipped.

-Yes, the slaves. I know you may find this hard to believe but we did try to find a way for this to work without them being slaves. There just wasn’t one. Aegis was looking for a source of income and this idea came up. Then Feistel was presented and it served our purposes in more sense than one.

- I see.

- Please, listen to me. Aegis is a group that is fighting against dark forces in galaxy and, yes, I realize how corny that sounds, but it’s true. We really are, and we have accomplished good deeds. Some with a heavy cost. We are not proud of the fact that our income will be based of slavery. I think it’s horrible. What does make this whole project a little bit more acceptable is the fact that things will be better here than they have been or would have been, had we not arrived. You would not have won your liberty. Forte would not have let go of this place in immediate future. And even if they had, Nordon would have taken over and let me tell you, they would have treated you just as bad as Forte. You would not have been free.

- There is nothing certain about that.

She could detect the anger underneath the carefully neutral tone.

- Yes, there is. Experience and expertise tell us what would have been. I’m sorry, I really am, but there is no way you could have won your freedom and independence. Truly, there wasn’t. This way, they get far better treatment and it is our goal to make it so that we won’t have to use slaves for long. We will have things well automatic and in the end, free workers. That won’t happen overnight though. You have to be patient.

- I asked Lipzen about that and he said one or two generations. Two generations of slavery!

- Hmm, I think that’s a bit pessimistic but I can’t say anything about when this will be accomplished though. We’ll have to see how things progress. Here and elsewhere. But things are not hopeless. They rarely are.

He looked at her then, and his black, tilted eyes searched hers.

- You seem sincere.

- I am. Hayden...I can imagine that doing what you have been doing has been hard. That you must have felt like you were betraying your people. But...things are not always black or white. There are a million shades of grey between. You are the key factor of delivering us Feistel but I truly believe that this will turn out well for the population here. I personally will see to it that their interests will not carried overboard but kept in mind.

She smiled a little.

- I’m sure that if you ask my teammates they will be able to tell you that I quite often succeed in making things that I believe in, happen, and that I do my best to stick to moral values. I can be very annoying that way.

He took a deep breath and she could some of the tension leave him.

- I feel you mean what you say and I am sure you have some sway within your group, otherwise you would not be here.

He looked her in the eyes and it took some resolve not to look away from that penetrating gaze.

- I will trust you in this and...He sighed. „I will continue to help you in your efforts, as best I can. You have my word.”

- And you have mine.

A tiny smile quirked the corner of his mouth. Just the faintest hint of one but it was there and it was enough.

- I have a feeling that you are someone who sticks to her guns, Laran, and I like that.

He looked down and closed his eyes briefly. For a moment his mask slipped and she saw how bone weary he was. She understood. She’d been there. For a moment she hesitated but decided to go with her gut and put her hand lightly on his forearm. He looked at her, startled.

- It’s been a rough ride and it ain’t over yet. But we’ll get there. And maybe, if we’re very, very lucky, we’ll do great good. And live to tell of it.

She withdrew her hand.

He smiled crookedly. It transformed his face and Laran actually found it hard to belive that just moments ago he’d looked menacing.

- Well. I’ve never been one to back down from a challenge. And I do love to tell a story of good deeds. Especially if the heroes survive.

She smiled back.

- Especially then.