Partners
By
Melissa Good
Hands grabbed her and she twisted, pulling against straps that kept her flat on her back, wrenching her arms to pull them free to fight.
It was dark. It was loud. She could hear screams and explosions. Nearby there was laughter, and then she felt the hot agony as a knife plunged into her side and her back arched as she tried to move away from it.
An ankle came free, and she twisted more violently, lifting her knee up and kicking out against the hands holding her down.
“Jess!”
She heard her name. She tried to open her mouth to answer but there was a gag in it, and she could only growl in anger and frustration.
“Jess!”
The voice was suddenly louder, and she felt a sting on her arm and a breath after that the darkness mottled and faded and the screams muted, and she was out of the dream.
“Jess.”
Hands on her shoulders, shaking her. Her body free. Her back laying on a soft, conforming surface.
She opened her eyes, to see the commander over her, a medic just behind him, pulling a injector back away from her.
The echoes of laughter faded away and the sounds of the den surrounded her and she blinked, finding the familiarity of the base on all sides, and no enemies anywhere to be seen. “Sorry.” She rasped, feeling pain in her throat from what she figured were screams. “Sorry, Stephan.” A pause “Sir.”
“It’s okay.” The commander rested his forearms on his knee. “You all right?”
She lifted a hand and rubbed her temples. “Fantastic.” Hiking herself up on the bed, she peered around, seeing the muted activity of late watch past the open door of her quarters. Slowly the tension left her, and she exhaled, willing herself calm.
“You might want to let Dustin here give you a knockout.” Stephan said. “Got a while before first watch.”
Jess shook her head. “I’m all right.” She said. “Just a damn dream.”
“Okay.” The commander stood up. He waved the medic out, then waited for the door to close. “I know it’s tough.”
“Yeah.” Jess answered briefly. “Too bad they don’t have a program for this. I”d take it.” She sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, resting her elbows on her bare knees.
Stephan sat back down on the padded stool near the bed. “Thought you were against re-patterning.” He said. “Weren’t you the one who told me only cowards try to deal with their problems that way?”
Jess wasn’t offended. “I was.” She said. “Then I was knifed in the back by my partner and watched my whole team be butchered in front of me. Changes your perspective.” Her eyes flicked up to his face, fastened on it. “I know what you’re going to tell me, Stephan. Get past it.”
He grunted. “You do need to.” He said. “Not that I don’t… “ He paused. “Jess, I’m not going to sit here and tell you I know how you feel, cause I don’t. Nothing like that ever happened to me.” He shifted. “Hasn’t happened to anyone before, that I know of.”
“Great. Another first for the Drake family.” Jess’s face twitched. “Eleven generations in service, always trying to be at the forefront of something.” She straightened up and ran her fingers through the dark , straight hair that fell to her shoulders.
“Well, that’s the point.” Stephan cleared his throat. “As much as a natural born is bred for anything, you were bred for this. Just like I was. Just like Mike, and Justin, and Sal were.” He said. “You’ve got a tough mind. You can get past it.”
“Sure.” Jess answered. “Just take a little time.”
The commander nodded. “That’s what I wanted to hear.” He stood and patted her on the shoulder. “Get some rest. We’ll talk in the morning. I’ve got some ideas on getting you re-partnered.” He watched the body across from him stiffen.
Jess remained silent, however. She merely nodded.
“Okay.” Stephan turned and made his way to the door, locking through with a palm press and letting it shut behind him.
The medic was waiting outside. “Okay?” Destin asked, briefly.
Stephan shrugged. “Have no idea. “ He answered honestly. “I’m not a doctor and even they aren’t sure what buttons to press to try and fix that.” He steered the medic towards the door that separated the operations center from the living quarters and they passed through it, moving from dim peace into blue lit subdued tension.
Jess waited until she was sure the door was going to stay shut. Then she pushed herself to her feet and walked across the soft gray carpet into the sanitary unit, ignoring her too pale reflection in the mirror as she let a little icy cold water run in the sink and splashed some on her face.
She was tired, but not sleepy, not having any desire to return to the dream world they’d pulled her out of nor wanting to trigger another visit from the medic. She leaned her hands on the sink and stared at the gray surface, resisting the urge to throw up.
Primitive. She pushed away and went back into the space she’d called home for all the years of her adulthood, a free-form two level room that had her bed and storage space on one side and a curved workspace on the other with a comfortable chair behind it.
On the second level, in the loft was a small space for relaxing and meditation and the cabinets that held her personal gear.
All in shades of gray, blue and sea green, with indirect lighting that lent the pod a sense of calm and peace and an almost luxurious feel she was due as the ops agent she was. Jess went to her desk chair and sat down in it, the surface feeling cool against the back of her thighs and her tank top clad shoulders.
She stared at the door to the left of the exit. It opened into a mirror image of the pod she was in, where until her last mission Joshua had lived.
Joshua.
Her outsider partner, with his curly red hair and his bright, friendly smile. They’d clicked right off, had the same interests, even liked the same music. Jess had often wondered if they’d selected for that when they paired them, but she really hadn’t cared, she’d just been glad they’d bonded and because he’d been carefully selected and undergone the training, she’d trusted him.
Trusted the competence of the board and the professionals whose job it was to carefully pick the teams and vet the outsider applicants so that there was that trust, when you were in a group and were on an emplacement and knew the people at your back were your family and without doubt.
Joshua had fooled everyone. In his tenth emplacement with Jess, he’d turned and literally knifed her, sounding the alarm and bringing the guards of the detention center they’d penetrated down on top of them.
She’d watched, as they cut the rest of the team to pieces, slowly, knowing a moment of bleak pride at their clench jawed silence before they came for her.
She would have gone the same way, except they misjudged her strength just a fraction. Just a little. Just enough for her to get loose, and free a hand, triggering the embedded recall chip just under her breastbone – just enough to get her hands on a gun and let her bone deep training take over.
The screams had been theirs. The last being Joshua’s as he came into her sights and she blew his brains right out of his head with the heavy projectiles, scattering bone chips and blood all over the room.
She spent a moment reliving it, now in her conscious mind. They’d given her a commendation for it, but that hadn’t erased the shame and the horror, and the sense of deep betrayal she wasn’t sure there was any getting over.
There would be no re-partnering for her. No one would live on the other side of that door, standing at her back, ready to put a blade into it.
No.
**
“Doctor?”
Randall Doss looked up, and saw the proctor standing in the doorway. “Yes?”
The tall, brown haired proctor entered. “Here’s the report you asked for.” He handed over a chip. “And the director of Interforce is here and wishes to speak to you.”