Starship Vengeance

Chapter 13

I walked slowly, inspecting the twelve men in front of me. Each prisoner had their wrists and ankles bound. Some looked defiant, while others were frightened. One prisoner was stupid enough to spit in my face. I kept my face passive as I removed the spittle from my face. I kept moving as if nothing had happened. The men in front of me were the survivors of the attempted coup. Eleven were captured at the capitol building while the twelfth was one of the assassins that tried to kill Lisa. Luckily, Lisa was still among the land of the living. I reached the end of the line, turned and slowly retraced my steps. I was still dressed in my battle gear with the exception of the helmet I had removed. I wanted to look these men in the eyes.

I stopped in front of a frightened man who looked like his bowels would release at any moment. He was standing next to the man who had spit in my face. I grabbed both of them and shoved them towards a side room. Several marines ran forward to assist in getting the men into the room. Sergeant Collins walked in and stood in the corner of the room after the other marines had left. I looked at him and said, "I'm going to have to ask you to leave. It's best if nobody but me is responsible for what happens to these men."

"I could care less what happens to them. The more they suffer the better" he said vehemently.

"I am ordering you to leave" I said angrily. He glared at me for a moment, saluted and left the room.

The room was small with a single table and chair. The prisoners had their restraints fastened to a wall opposite from the table. I moved the chair aside and pulled a black bag from under the table. I started unloading its contents. The first item pulled out was my pistol. I then pulled out several menacing looking objects. The last item removed was a pair of filled syringes. The syringes had a milky white substance in them. The smell of urine filled the room as the prisoner on the left lost control of himself.

"You can torture me all you like, but I will never tell you anything!" The second prisoner yelled.

I walked back to the table and picked up the pistol. "This is probably one of the greatest side arms ever designed. It is much more than just a weapon. It can cut through steel panels and even act as an instrument of torture." I put the weapon down and slowly waved my arm above the rest of the table. "To be honest, most of these devices are innocuous. I simply placed them there as an attempt to intimidate you, but it appears you aren't easy to intimidate." I picked up one of the syringes. "This, however, is what will give me the answers I desire. The Tuleeriri have perfected the science of nanotechnology. Each of these syringes is filled with millions of nanites. Once injected, they will head straight for you brain. Once there they will assimilate all of your memories and transfer them to our computers. Unfortunately, our bodies aren't used to the nanites, so brain damage is almost a guarantee."

I put the syringe down and calmly walked to where the frightened prisoner stood. Careful of where I placed my feet, I stood next to him and slowly started to roll up his right sleeve. I grabbed the syringe again and stood in front of him. "I'll give you one chance to tell me everything you know. If your answers satisfy me, then I will let you walk out of this room. If not then I'll let my friends here get the answers I need."

The prisoner started babbling incoherently. I backhanded his face just hard enough to sting. The pain seemed to help him focus. "My name is Sam..." he said shakily. "I opposed what you were doing and heard about secret meetings of those who had a similar view. Before I knew it, I was involved in an attempt to overthrow the new government. By that time I was too involve to back out."

"Who was the leader of the group?" I asked impatiently.

"I don't know. We met in small groups. There was a different person running the meetings each time."