Gunmetal Dark
By Angelina Vansen

RATING: NC-17 for sex and violence
CODES: Uber J/7
SUMMARY: After using the Network to find out more about herself, MIA #223939 (Seven of Nine) was discovered by Kamila Zaworska, wife of General Timon Menendez. That will mean nothing, however, if you do not start at the beginning!


20.

Mia was coming upstairs again.

She had wandered the house all night, and Kaine was tired of it. The young woman had been in and out of every room, up and down the stairs every ten minutes. Kaine had been woken over a dozen times and was losing her temper.

She sympathised if Mia could not sleep, but the young woman needed to learn some consideration. The opening and closing of doors could be accomplished much more quietly than she seemed to manage, and "tiptoe" was clearly a foreign concept.

Kaine needed sleep. Really needed it. Her Augbrain gave her constant pain, and her body ached with exhaustion. A good, full night's sleep would help a lot.

The door to the bedroom opened. Bumped against the light fixture.

Kaine ground her teeth. Squeezed her eyes shut in the depths of the pillow.

"Kaine?" said Mia.

"What?!" Kaine snapped. She sat up in bed, ready to let her young companion have a piece of her mind. Then froze.

Mia stood in the doorway, pale in the pale light. White skin. Thin white robe. Blue eyes, blue lips. Gun to her head.

Next to her was another woman, not quite as tall as Mia. She held the gun in a firm, practised hand. Black clothes, slim body. Blonde hair tied neatly behind her head.

Kamila Zaworska.

"Dr. Kaine Sigg," said Kamila. "That makes sense."

Kaine gaped. Her mouth fell open. She tried to say something but couldn't.

"Get up," Kamila snarled.

She looked different than she did in the stills around the house. Leaner. Tougher.

Kaine got up. Very aware that she was dressed in Timon's pyjamas.

"There's no need for the gun," she said, softly. Pacifying.

"You broke into my house," Kamila countered.

"No ..."

"The lock on the back door is hacked."

"Yes ... yes, that's true. But we ... look, we had nowhere else to go."

"Where's Timon?"

Kaine bit her lip. Tried to look away, but Kamila's eyes followed her.

"Kamila ..."

"Where is he?!" Kamila shouted. On the other end of the gun, Mia flinched.

Kaine did not reply. She could not find the words.

"Is he dead?"

Still the words wouldn't come. "I'm sorry ..."

"Get downstairs," Kamila spat. "Now."

"There's no need for the gun," Kaine said again. "We can talk about this."

"Shut up. Get downstairs."

"Okay. I'm going." Kaine held her hands up in surrender and edged carefully out of the room. Kamila followed, nudging Mia along with the gun at her temple.

The three of them moved slowly downstairs into the kitchen. Outside, the morning was dull and grey. It rained hard.

"Sit down," Kamila demanded. Kaine pulled a chair from the table and sat. Hands folded in her lap.

Kamila's jaw tightened. She pursed her lips. "How?" she choked. "How did he die?"

Kaine closed her eyes. "He ... he was murdered. Citizens ... Three Stars ... they ... we were captured and ..."

"Citizens murdered him?" Kamila questioned.

"Yes."

"You're lying."

"No. I'm not."

"They murdered him, General Menendez, in cold blood without demands or ransoms or fanfare ... but kept you alive? I don't think so."

"They kidnapped us ..."

"Yes, I know," Kamila let out a dark, bitter laugh. "From the Hacienda Motel in Ghow. The two of you ..."

"Yes," Kaine looked at the floor. "I'm sorry, it ... we ..."

"Oh, save it," Kamila derided. "I'm sure you're just wracked with guilt."

Kaine looked away. Chewed on her lower lip.

"I should shoot you right now," Kamila said bitterly.

"Kamila ..."

"But you have to go back to Tenkatech," Kamila said. "They'll deal with you at Sonn Io Oriel."

"No," Kaine said. "No, you can't do that, you don't understand."

"I understand perfectly. Alvaro can investigate your story and find out what happened to Timon. That's outside my jurisdiction."

"Your jurisdiction?" Kaine asked. "I thought you were a Field Nurse."

Kamila gave her a contemptuous glare.

Kaine looked closer. Saw the other woman's steady gaze, her perfect stance. The short, stubby sidearm she brandished.

"You're Intelligence, aren't you? TSIS?"

"You think so?" Kamila toyed.

"Yes," Kaine told her. "I've worked with a lot of TSIS officers, especially during the Softsuit project. You're definitely one of them. Why else would you need a cover story?"

Kamila cocked her head slightly. "What about you?" she asked. "Who are you working for?"

"I'm not working for anybody."

"Come on. I'm not stupid. I know she was waiting for me," Kamila said. "That's why I'm here alone. I know that's why you chose my house."

Kaine was lost. She looked from Kamila to Mia and back again. Fear sat, solid and awful, in her throat and chest.

"I chose the house because I knew it would be empty," she protested. "Because we needed somewhere to go."

Kamila dropped the gun from Mia's head, but didn't put it down. She went to the kitchen table and picked up a piece of the Softsuit which still lay there: the leftside ammo cache. She hefted it, turned it over.

"How did you track her?" she asked suddenly. She put the ammo cache back onto the table.

"Who?" Kaine asked. Not breaking eye contact with Kamila.

"Her," Kamila jerked her head in Mia's direction.

Mia's eyes widened. She opened her mouth to say something, but Kaine shot her a look, imploring her to say silent. A mis-timed outburst could get them both killed.

"Did Timon help you?" Kamila continued, bitterly. "Was he part of it, too? He had clearance to the Fourteen."

"Timon had nothing to do with this!" Kaine protested. "I told you, he was killed by the Citizens."

"Are you TSIS?" Kamila demanded, referring again to the Tenkatech Secret Intelligence Service.

"No!" Kaine cried.

"Are you a Citizen agent?"

"No, I'm not!"

"How did you find her?"

"I didn't, she found me. She ..."

"Did you disconnect her in the first place? Do you have Softsuit backdoors that let you into the Orgbrain?"

"No!"

"Did you use her to lure me here?" The questions were relentless, all delivered in the crisp language of an interrogation.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"She's a big blip, Sigg. And she's right there, in my Network bothy. You expect me to believe she's just passing the time in there?"

"I don't know! I don't know what you want me to say. The truth is I know nothing about any of this!"

"No!" Kamila insisted. She almost raised her voice. "No, she's in my bothy because you put her there. You put her there to send a message to me. That's the only explanation!"

"Why would I send you a message?" Kaine protested. "I thought you were a Field Nurse!"

"Just like I thought you were a Biosystems Doctor," Kamila concluded. "I guess we were both wrong."

"I am! I was ... I'm not an agent! Of any kind! For anyone!"

"I don't believe you."

"You'll have to!"

The two women locked eyes. Breathed. In. Then out.

"Why am I a big blip?" said Mia suddenly. Both women's eyes shot to her. "You will explain."

"She doesn't know?" Kamila asked Kaine.

Kaine's heart sank. At once, Mia's eyes opened wide, angry and accusatory. "What do I not know?" she demanded. "You will tell me now!"

"Mia, I ..." she started, but the young woman was not about to let her finish.

"Is what this woman says correct?" she barked at Kaine. "Have you been using me as bait of some kind?"

"No, Mia ... I swear to you ..."

"You," Mia turned to Kamila. "What do you know about me?"

Kamila slid her eyes from Kaine to Mia. "I came here for you. TSIS have been tracking you," she said. "This is why I came here. To speak to you."

"What is TSIS?" Mia barked, as if she were the one holding the gun.

"Tenkatech Secret Intelligence Service," Kamila replied. Her face broke into a wide smile. The change was astonishing; a moment ago she had looked drab and military, now she was stunningly beautiful, the happy young woman from Timon's wedding stills.

Kaine prayed that Mia could see through that smile. TSIS agents were well trained in winning people's trust.

"Why have TSIS tracked me?"

"Because you are a Tenkatech Soft-trooper who went AWOL. A deserter. And because you are unique in doing so."

"You have tracked me since I left the launch field?"

"Yes, we have."

"But you have not attempted to apprehend me. Why?"

"We haven't been sure what to do with you. How best we can help you."

"I do not require Tenkatech's help," Mia spat. Her eyes were ice-blue and full of disdain.

"Have you been hearing voices? A voice?"

Mia froze.

"Yes. You have. I know."

"What is the voice?"

"You haven't heard it for a while, have you?"

"No," Mia sounded wary.

"We blocked its communications with you."

"Blocked it? Why?"

"Because we weren't sure if you were yourself, or if it was Cho Oyu manipulating your body."

"What is Cho Oyu?"

"Cho Oyu is the voice you have been hearing."

"I do not understand."

Kamila offered a smile to Mia. "I'm afraid that telling you any more would be a breach of protocol. The information is classified," she told her.

"Classified is unacceptable," Mia responded. "I wish to know."

"I can't tell you."

"You will tell me."

"I'm sorry."

"You will tell me or I will kill you."

Kamila smiled again. "I'm the one with the gun," she reminded Mia, almost friendly.

Mia's eyes narrowed. She was not good at being told no. Kaine took a breath and held it.

"However," Kamila said suddenly. "If you wanted to come with me ..."

"No," Mia refused flatly. "I will not go to a military base."

"Not to a military base. TSIS is not like that."

"Then what is TSIS like?" Mia all but sneered.

"No soldiers, no guns. No labs, either. If you came, you wouldn't be a prisoner or a test subject. We can go somewhere I could debrief you, find out what happened. In controlled conditions."

"I do not understand," Mia said warily.

"I have no idea what happened to you. I want to fill in the gaps and I'm guessing that you need to do the same. Right?"

After a long moment, Mia nodded.

"But I'm subject to strict imperatives. You're part of something far bigger than you can imagine, something that can't be allowed to become public knowledge under any circumstances."

"Yes?" Mia asked. She sounded nervous.

"Yes. Now, I want to help you. I want to fill in those missing pieces for you, tell you what I know and have you tell me what you know, too. But here and now, that's impossible. I'm not going to do that without the supervision of my team. It's too important."

"Where would we go?"

Kaine sat upright in her chair. "Mia!" she gasped. It sounded like the young woman might actually be considering this.

"You will be quiet, Kaine," Mia snarled. "You have concealed things from me. You have worked against me, refused to help me. Possibly you have used me as bait."

"Mia, I haven't ..." Kaine pleaded.

"You will be quiet," Mia said again. She turned back to Kamila and repeated her question. "Where would we go? Where is this team?"

"Our base is in a classified location. But it's less than a day's travel by truck."

Mia nodded. "And once our exchange is done?"

"Then you are free to leave. I'll take you anywhere you want to go."

"You will explain to me about the voice? What it is? What it means?"

"Yes. Like I said, an exchange of information under controlled circumstances."

There was silence. Mia looked at the floor. Then at her own hands.

"All right," she said eventually.

"What?!" Kaine gasped. "Are you crazy?!"

"Be silent, Kaine," Mia warned her.

"Mia, I'm begging you, listen to me ..."

"I will not," Mia told Kaine. She turned to Kamila. "You will take me to your team. At once."

Kamila nodded, seemingly amused at Mia's abruptness. She stood up and picked up the gun.

Kaine stood up, too.

"Mia, I'm not going to let you do this!"

"It is not your decision."

"She's Tenkatech, same as the military, same as the people who put you in the Softsuit in the first place. Can't you see that?"

"You are Tenkatech."

"Yes, but ..."

"Be silent."

"Don't worry, Sigg," snapped Kamila from the back door. "You're coming, too."

Kaine had never doubted that she would be. Already she knew what awaited her. Hours of horrible torture, all under the guise that she was a terrorist, a traitor, an enemy agent. All designed to gather information that she did not have.

Colonel Filer's bunker all over again.

At the end of it, tired of her and finally realising that she knew nothing, TSIS would execute her, just as Filer had tried to do.

Maybe it wouldn't be as elaborate a death as the Sluice, probably just pushed to her knees and shot in the head, but she would not live to see freedom again, of that she was very sure.

Kaine looked to Mia, tried to plead with her eyes. The young woman was unreadable, her eyes lost in dark shadow.

Kaine stood up and followed Mia out into the garden. It was still raining, the grass saturated and muddy, the morning sky thick with cloud.

She lifted her head to look at the sky and feel the rain on her face. Her last morning, her last sky. She had no doubt that Kamila was leading her to a place of pain and hell from which she would not return.

Frantically, she looked around. How could she get out of this? How could she escape?

Then her eyes fell on something. Something stupid. Something desperate.

She turned, making as if to follow Mia into the parking bay. She took a tighter angle, however, and brushed past the table.

Kamila was behind her. She heard the other woman's footsteps on the doorframe, then on the concrete of the patio. Her boots slapped wetly in the puddles. Kaine's heart thumped quick and hard.

She closed her eyes. Bit her tongue. Seized one of the heavy garden chairs in both hands and swung it behind her.

For a moment, she thought she had missed. The chair no longer seemed in her control, carried by centrifugal force in an arc that felt like flying.

Then it smashed into Kamila, hard. Kaine felt it hit soft flesh, ribs and a hip. The momentum drove Timon's wife into the wall.

Kaine opened her eyes. Panted.

Kamila blinked, her eyes huge with shock. She slid down the wall. She landed on her bottom on the wet patio. There was blood on her hand and a bruise on her lip.

Her eyes were full of disbelief. Kamila looked from Kaine to her gun and then lifted it to fire.

Kaine smashed her again, hitting her face and hand this time with the ornate legs. The crunch of metal on bone, sickening and awful, travelled through the chair and jarred Kaine's hands. The gun fell out of Kamila's hand and skittered across the patio.

The doctor took a step, intending to strike again while Kamila was still dazed, but it was already too late. Kaine's toes barely touched the ground before her legs were knocked from under her with a sweep of Kamila's foot.

She hit the ground in a tumble of limbs and chair, and her head caught the cold wet concrete with a hollow thud. Her whole head buzzed with the impact, and her mouth tasted bloody where she had bitten her tongue.

Immediately, Kamila threw herself at the downed woman, hands going straight for the throat, powerful as steel. She bared her teeth and tightened her grip, trying to close off Kaine's windpipe.

Despite her strength, Kaine saw how dazed she was, how close she had come to knocking the other woman out cold. Her eyes rolled in her head and her movements, though precise, were sluggish and awkward.

Kaine twisted, easily getting a knee between them, and forced it into Kamila's stomach. It gave her just enough leverage to break out of the chokehold.

Instead, Kamila grabbed a fistful of the doctor's wet hair and yanked her head back. Punched her face and dragged her over the concrete by the hair. Kaine raked her nails over Kamila's face, got a pretty good elbow into her ribs, too.

Kamila overbalanced and brought Kaine with her. They landed with a smack in the soaking, muddy grass of the garden.

For a moment they struggled, neither woman gaining advantage. Both floundered in the mud, biting, scratching and punching each other.

Kaine was not going to be taken. She was not going to be tortured. Never again.

She gave an animal cry and struck Kamila with all the strength she possessed. Slapped her, punched her, bit her. Pure adrenalin. Electric muscles. She grabbed Kamila's pale hair and raised her fist for another blow.

Kamila hit her first. Slammed the heel of her hand up into Kaine's chin, hard. Kaine bit her own tongue and her vision exploded into stars of every colour.

Kamila shoved a palm into Kaine's chest that sent the doctor flying back onto the wet grass. It was all the time Kamila needed. She rolled away and lunged for her gun.

Before Kaine had a chance to react, Kamila was on her feet, towering over Kaine's prone form. Her teeth were bared and her eyes were livid in her mud-streaked face. Her bloody nose dripped onto Kaine.

She aimed the gun at Kaine's head with a shaking hand. Her snarl turned into a terrible, ghastly grin.

That was it. Kaine saw it in her face. Never mind the torture. Never mind the interrogation. Kamila was about to kill her.

She stared at Kamila, eyes strong and locked with hers. Stared at her and waited.

Then, she saw Mia. Mia, wearing the cuff of the Softsuit on her right arm. The cuff's weapon out, in her hand.

The gun pointed at Kamila's head.

"You will drop that gun, now," said Mia.

Kamila let out a breath. Cursed. She dropped the gun, tossed it across the garden.

Kaine scrabbled to her feet. Her muscles were weak, full of adrenaline. Her legs were floppy and did not want to stand. The thin pyjamas she wore were soaked and muddy.

"Mia ..." she gasped.

"I will kill her," Mia said. Eyes never leaving Kamila.

"You don't want to do that," said Kamila. Sounding calm and in control.

"I will kill her and dispose of her corpse," Mia continued, as if Kamila had not spoken.

"You'll make things worse for yourself," Kamila warned.

"You will be quiet!" Mia shouted.

"I thought you wanted to go with her," Kaine husked. "I thought you were going to go with her to TSIS."

"The voice did not lead me to TSIS," Mia explained. "It led me to you."

Kaine nodded. Set her jaw.

"Find something to dig a hole," Mia barked.

"What?" Kaine asked.

"We need a hole so we can dispose of her body."

"Mia ..." Kaine held up a hand. A moment ago, she would have killed Kamila herself. But in cold blood like this? She wasn't sure she had the stomach.

"I have done it before," Mia said impatiently. "In the desert, before I found you. I murdered a man, a soldier, and I disposed of his body. It was easy. If you wish to escape, we must do it again."

"You'll lose everything," Kamila warned.

"You will be quiet!" Mia yelled. Her eyes bulged and the rain soaked her. She looked formidable with one arm back in the Softsuit, beautiful and dangerous all at once.

"You'll lose your only chance to find out about yourself," Kamila continued, heedless.

"I do not care!"

"Yes, you do. That's why you were in my bothy, isn't it? To try and find out who you were."

"Be quiet!"

Kamila's eyes slid to Mia. "Your name was Brett Viesturs," she told her.

Mia jumped.

"Your name was Brett Viesturs, and you were born in Daler. You are twenty-eight years old, and you have two sisters. No husband. No children."

Silence. Utter silence except for the rain hitting the patio and the table behind them. Mia's face was grey.

"How do you know these things?" she asked. Her voice was small and thin.

"I have seen your file, and I know everything about you."

"My file?"

"Yes. If you kill me, your best chance to know what's in it will go."

Kaine stared at Mia. Mia stared at Kamila. Jaw tight. Hand clenched around the gun. Her hand seemed very pale and small protruding from the Softsuit's cuff.

Her other hand reached out. Pushed Kamila's shoulder so that she stumbled towards the house.

"Get inside," said Mia. "You will tell me everything."


CONTINUE TO CHAPTER 21 ...


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