The Bloody Spartan

Mark, Sherry, and Karl were busy turning down candidates at the main computer panel. Nathan had gotten bored of their comments and wandered away looking at the other panels. The various screens showed information on prisoners of and in the Tango System. Nathan’s eyes slid over most of them but stopped at a screen that was dark. He pushed the button below it. The screen started to lighten.

Nathan froze and looked toward the door at the sound of footsteps out in the hallway. They came closer. Karl pulled out a gun. The footsteps stopped in front of the door and something hit the open button. The door buzzed but didn’t open.

“Locked?” a male voice asked.

“Yup,” another male voice answered. Then the footsteps moved on. Nathan relaxed. Karl put his gun away once the footsteps couldn’t be heard anymore.

Nathan returned his attention to the screen. It finished lighting up. The screen showed a picture of a woman and had a little bit of information beside it. Nathan studied the picture. She had shoulder length black hair with blonde roots, dark green eyes showing the fact that she was bored with the photographer, and the paler of someone who spent more time on a ship than on planet. Her face had a thinness suggesting limited food supplies. The attached profile listed her occupation as smuggler. It also listed her age, place of birth, date of birth, relatives, and accomplices as unknown.

“What about this one?” Nathan asked.

“Not a good idea,” Mark answered only glancing at what Nathan was doing, “These are the ones already in prison, while those are the ones waiting to go to trial.”

“Wouldn’t that make it easier to get them out?” Nathan asked.

“Not necessarily, governments don’t care once the person has gone to trial, but before then they are guarded heavily,” Mark answered. Karl had come over and was looking over Nathan’s shoulder.

“Except for being female she looks like the perfect candidate,” Karl commented.

“And what is wrong with being female?” Sherry asked resting her hands on her hips.

“Nothin’, just thinking we don’t need any more females on the crew,” Karl answered. Sherry crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Karl. Mark slid the chair over to the panel, Nathan moved to one side.

“She is awaiting trial for smuggling, lying at checkpoints, and trying to evade capture,” Mark read off, “She has been in holding a month after some time in medical. Looks like they had to shoot her during the arrest.”

“She sounds perfect for what we need,” Sherry said.

“Where?” Nathan asked.

“All charges are for things that happened right here in the Tango system,” Mark said as he took out a data card and put it into the slot beside the screen, “The only system mentioned in her file is the Tango system.”

“Then she should be able to do what we need,” Nathan said. The card popped out and Mark put it back away.

“She has refused court appointed legal counsel,” Mark said, “But there isn’t any reason stated in the file. Based on her case it looks like it wouldn’t be too difficult to get the charges dropped.”

“Good, then maybe we can get her out and be on our way,” Nathan said.

“I will go over the information tonight and go see her tomorrow,” Mark said.

“How long do you think it will take?” Nathan asked.

“A week or two,” Mark answered.

“As long as it is under three, we’ll be ahead of schedule as far as the shipments,” Nathan said.

“If it takes longer than two it might be closer to a month,” Mark said, “I don’t know the speed of the legal system here.”

“Claim is that the Tango system doesn’t have much of a legal system,” Karl said.

“I’m going to find out,” Mark said, “It’ll be good practice if any of the rest of us get into trouble.”

“I hope we don’t need it,” Nathan said going over to the door. He placed a scanner beside the door and pressed the button. It scanned and when finished it beeped.

“Clear?” Sherry asked.

“For the next seven minutes,” Nathan answered as he put the scanner away.

“Let’s go,” Karl said pulling out a gun. Nathan pressed the button and the door slid open. The four of them left the room and the door locked when it slid shut behind them. Being watchful of their surroundings, they headed down the hallway.

Mark straightened his suit before entering the prison office. Except for a secretary behind a desk and a door to Mark’s left, the room was empty. The secretary was talking into a headset. Mark didn’t understand what she was saying, so he stood next to the desk and waited.

Five minutes later the secretary stopped talking and pushed a button. She looked at Mark expectantly.

“I am here to see Prisoner 1963,” Mark said handing the secretary a business card. The secretary looked at the card for a moment.

“It will be five minutes,” the secretary said.

“Thank you,” Mark said. A seat slid out of the wall behind him. Mark went over to it and sat down. The secretary said something into her headset that Mark didn’t understand. Then she went back to chatting into the headset.

Ten minutes later the door on the left opened and the guard standing in the doorway looked at Mark and nodded. Mark got up and went passed the guard into the room. The guard shut the door and stood in front of it. On the other side the room was another door and another guard, the mirror image of this side. And in the middle was a table placed lengthwise. A force shield went right down the middle of the room making it appear as if one side was just a reflection of the other. Except that the lady sitting at the table on the other side and the chair on this side was empty. The lady had her head resting on the table. Mark thought she might be asleep.

Mark pulled the chair out and sat down. It squeaked against the floor as he moved it back in. The lady raised her head to look at him. She was thinner than Mark thought she would be from the picture in her profile.

“My name is Mark Drader,” Mark said, “I’ve been asked to be your legal counsel.” The lady’s green eyes switched from non-expression to boredom.

“I already refused the court’s legal counsel,” the lady said putting her head back down.

“I don’t work for the court,” Mark said, “I work for someone who would like you to be out of here.” The lady looked up long enough for Mark to see the streak of pain go through them.

“Yeah, and you don’t think that the guards don’t want to let me out?” the lady said.

“I have only seen a little bit of the case,” Mark said, “I need your signature before they will let me see the whole file.”

“They want me to leave and meet up with any accomplices that I have out there,” the lady said without looking up, “Who else wants me out?”

“My employer does not work for the government. He owns a ship and thinks you would be a good addition to his crew,” Mark answered. The lady’s came up and she sat back in her chair. She studied him. Her eyes now held no emotion at all.

“And what does he do?” the lady asked.

“It is a cargo ship, but sometimes it carries passengers,” Mark answered.

“You get better money if you hire from the fringe systems,” the lady said, “There is no guarantee that you can get me out of here.”

“Those questions might be better asked of the captain when you get out,” Mark replied.

“Then get me out,” the lady said. Mark pulled out a piece of paper and slid it across the table to her. It went through the force shield no problems

“I need your signature here, otherwise I’ll have a lot more trouble doing that,” Mark said. The guard from that side of the room moved to the lady and placed a pen on the table. The lady picked up the pen with her right hand and she signed where she was supposed to. Mark noticed the start of a tattoo just under the short sleeve of the prison uniform. When the lady was done, the guard took back the pen and moved back to his post. The she slid the paper to Mark.

“Thank you,” Mark said picking up the paper and putting it away.

“We’ll see how thankful you are if this succeeds,” the lady said standing up. The guard behind her opened the door and she left the room with guard following her. Mark stood up and was let out the door behind him. The guard closed the door once Mark was in the waiting room. Mark left the prison area. He walked the corridors back to where the ship was docked.

He stopped in his room to change out of his suit before going to the ship’s kitchen. Nathan and Karl were sitting at the table eating. Mark sat down in one of the empty chairs.

“How was the meeting?” Nathan asked.

“Law enforcement is trying to find her accomplices,” Mark said.

“Who’d leave a member behind to take the rap for everybody?” Karl asked before swallowing.

“A merc crew,” Nathan answered then turned back to Mark, “What else?”

“Miss. Zabrina Brawns has agreed to let me represent her,” Mark answered, “I have looked over her file and it doesn’t look too hard.”

“And?” Nathan asked.

“I think someone wants her out so they can watch her and see where she goes,” Mark answered, “We can back out now, she expects it.”

“No, we’ll try to get her out,” Nathan replied, “We just to keep an eye out for anyone following her.”

“Okay,” Mark said. Karl shoved the last of his meal in his mouth and got up. He put his dishes in the washer and left the kitchen.

“What else is there?” Nathan asked.

“She has a tattoo, I didn’t get to see more than a small bit of the black,” Mark answered.

“You think she belongs to a specific group?” Nathan asked.

“A lot of groups use tattoos as branding to designate ownership,” Mark answered.

“There are lots of people who just happen to have tattoos as well,” Nathan said.

“True,” Mark said.

“Don’t worry too much about it,” Nathan said, “We haven’t done anything illegal, yet.” Nathan left the kitchen leaving Mark alone.

The next morning Mark found the law library. It was tucked between the prison area and the court rooms. There were a couple of people sitting at computer panels. Mark selected a computer panel away from everyone else.

The screen gave him a search bar. Mark typed trial into the bar. It came up with thousands of articles as well as a side bar that offered tutorials on the basics of the Tango system’s justice system. Mark clicked on the first tutorial.

Mark spent the next six hours watching the tutorials. He was just about shaking his head at how the system worked. When a person got arrested, they were given half an hour in front of a judge. The judge looked over the charges, asked how the person pleaded, and the offered them legal counsel if they didn’t already have some. Then the person was placed in holding until their legal counsel got them a day in court. Then a judge would listen to the whole case and make a decision. Most cases only last three hours in court and none went over two days. If no one scheduled a court date, the person would stay in holding for twenty years before being set free.

Once he was finished, Mark took down the title of the person he needed to talk to set up a court date and where to find them. Then he closed down the programs on the computer panel before getting up and leaving.

Exiting the law library, Mark headed toward the court rooms. The person he was looking for had an office on the other side of the court rooms but before the bureaucrat’s offices.

The door to the office was open, but the only thing inside was a desk with a man sitting behind it. The man was busy making chains out of paperclips. As Mark entered, the man dropped the paperclips and gave Mark his full attention. There was a name plate on the desk that had the words Col. Harris on it.

“What can I help you with?” Harris asked.

“I need to schedule a court date,” Mark said.

“You have come to the right place,” Harris picking up a pen. He flipped through a book on his desk. The paper, pen, and paperclips seemed out of place to Mark.

“There is an opening in the morning two days from now,” Harris said.

“That is fine,” Mark said.

“Case number?” Harris asked

“1986,” Mark answered Harris wrote something in the book.

“There, all set,” Harris said.

“Thank you.” Mark said.

“You’re welcome,” Harris said, “Come back anytime.” Mark left the office faster than he normally would.

On the day of the trial, Mark showed up at the court rooms. The listing of the cases for each room was posted beside the door. Mark found the correct room and went inside. Aside from the guard standing in front of the cells, he was the first to arrive. Mark sat down in the appropriate chair and waited.

Ten minutes later a guard came in. He went and sat down in one of the seats reserved for witnesses. Five minutes after Zabrina was brought in and sat down in the seat reserved for the accused with a guard standing over her. She looked exactly as she had when Mark had gone to visit her; maybe a little more bored.

A clerk entered from the door that the judge was to come in through. The clerk frowned at the chair where the prosecution should have been. Five more minutes went by before the clerk shrugged and announced the judge. Everyone stood up. The clerk stepped out of the way and the judge entered the court room. The clerk closed the door as the judge took his seat. Just as the clerk sat down the door to court room opened and a man stumbled inside. As the door closed, the man looked up. Realizing everyone was looking at him, he scrambled to his feet and hurried to the prosecution’s seat.

The judge started the case. The prosecution got to go first. The man stood up and stammered through the minimal evidence he had, except the two pieces the judge excluded because the prosecution had lost them. Then the witness was allowed to testify. He was one of the guards who had caught her; the other one had to work. The guard told how he had been called about fleeing suspect and the results of the chase.

Mark could see the judge felt like his time was being wasted. And if Zabrina hadn’t said the security force wanted her out Mark might have believed the whole legal system had some real idiots working in it.

Once the prosecution was finished, it was Mark’s turn. He kept his comments short, logical, and to the point. The judge looked vastly relieved at this when Mark had sat down again. The judge called a ten-minute recess before going back through his door. Everyone else stayed in the courtroom. Zabrina hadn’t moved since she had sat down. The guard behind her shifted his weight a little bit but otherwise was still. The witness also stayed relatively still. The clerk was absorbed by whatever he was doing on his computer. The prosecution tapped his toes, adjusted his suit, wrung his hands, and just about drove Mark to wanting to chain the man down.

Finally, the judge came back into the courtroom. He didn’t even pretend to be formal as he announced the case was dismissed and Zabrina could go. Then the judge left again. Zabrina was taken to the holding area to retrieve her belongings.

Mark left the court room and went to wait in the corridor outside the prison area office. Twelve minutes later Zabrina stepped out. Now she was dressed in black pants, a red button up shirt over a black shirt, black gloves, and sunglasses.

Mark led the way to where the ship was docked.

When they entered the hanger, Zabrina stopped and studied it over her sunglasses.

“I picture it a bit bigger,” she pushed the sunglasses back up.

“The Bloody Spartan is the right size for what she does,” Mark shrugged.

“Is it legally named that?” Zabrina asked.

“Yes,” Mark answered as they started toward it again.

“Smuggling ship?”

“Sometimes. Right now just a cargo ship,” Mark led the way inside.

“Haven’t had any offers yet?”

“Just arrived in the system. This is the cargo hold.” The space they were in was cavernous and empty with two sets of stairs at the far end; one going up and the other going down. Zabrina followed Mark over to them.

“The bottom set leads to the engine room. The only person who spends time down there is the engineer, Gordon. If you need anything down there, it is best to talk to him first.” Mark went up the stairs with Zabrina following him.

At the top was a hallway. There was nothing off this hallway until the other end when it went three ways. The door at the end was closed but two more hallways went either direction. Mark took the left one. There were four doorways off this hallway.

“This is the laundry room,” Mark pointed to the first doorway, “And the two at the far end are storage space and a lounge. The captain prefers you ask before using the storage space. The lounge is never used. And this is the kitchen.” Mark led the way into the second doorway. At the far end of the room were appliances for cooking, cleaning up after, and storing food as well as several cabinets. In the middle of the room was a long table with a man and woman sitting and eating.

The female had golden skin tone, long black hair, medium build with just the right weight for it, dressed in a blue and white bodysuit, and hazel eyes. The man had a large build, muscular, black pants, red shirt that zipped up, a gun on his hip, short brown hair, and blue eyes. They had stopped talking when Mark and Zabrina entered.

“Karl, Sherry,” Mark said, “This is.”

“Brina,” Zabrina said.

“Sherry is our pilot,” Mark said, “And Karl is good with guns.”

Brina nodded.

“Welcome to the crew of the Bloody Spartan,” Sherry said.

“Met the captain yet?” Karl’s mouth was full.

“That was our next stop on the tour,” Mark said before leaving the kitchen. Brina followed him. Mark went back to the three-way intersection. This time he opened the closed door. Brina followed him inside. This was the cockpit. A man sat in the co-pilot’s chair looking at a panel in front of him. Brina studied him. She guessed him to be tall, looked like he could hold his own in a fight, and was dressed in what might have once been a military uniform.

“Nathan,” Mark said. The man looked up; his grey eyes settled on Brina, “This is Brina.”

“I’m the captain,” Nathan said standing up and holding out his hand.

“It seems to me that you have all the crew on needed to fly a ship this size,” Brina said ignoring the hand.

“I do, but none of them know the system,” Nathan answered.

“You got me out to be navigator?” Brina asked disbelief in her voice.

“Out of the choices, you seemed the best one,” Nathan answered. Brina was quiet for a moment.

“I’m not sure about this, but you have yourself a navigator,” Brina said shaking Nathan’s hand. Mark left the cockpit.

“I can show you to your cabin,” Nathan said. Brina nodded and followed Nathan out of the cockpit. He turned left and went down the hallway Mark hadn’t shown her. There were four doors along here, two on each side. Nathan stopped at the last one and pushed the button to open the door. Brina stepped inside. There was a bed with a blanket on it, a set of drawers, and the door to the bathroom was open. The walls were bare, but it looked like someone had tried to paint over the metal with a royal blue.

“Best accommodations I’ve seen in a while,” Brina commented taking off the sunglasses and looking around.

“The last occupant refused to decorate with guards and force shields,” Nathan said.

“The last ship I was on had a rule of three people per cabin,” Brina said.

“Settler ship?” Nathan asked.

“No, there were six of us and only two cabins,” Brina answered.

“The only people who share space on this ship are Karl and Sherry,” Nathan said, “And that has more to do with their choice than have to.”

Brina nodded as she put the sunglasses back on. The quiet hung in the air for a full minute.

“We’ll be leaving in half an hour,” Nathan broke the quiet.

“Where are we headed?” Brina asked.

“We’re headed for the planet Baryon,” Nathan answered.

“The actual planet or the space station orbiting Baryon?”

“What is the difference?”

“Last I heard only five people were allowed on planet. Most people live on the station.”

“The planet wasn’t terraformed, or something?”

“Terraforming didn’t take, so any life support is whatever you bring with you.”

“What about the five people on the planet?”

“Scavengers,” Brina shrugged. Nathan waited, but Brina didn’t say anything more. Before he could ask someone called him. Nathan turned and left. The door slid shut behind him as he headed down the hallway.