Escape From Redeem, Rise of an Emperor
Chapter 21

Planet: Earth, Presidential Palace, Geneva

Snow was starting to fall over the city of Geneva, carpeting the streets in virgin powder that would disrupt everybody’s day. President Black felt sorry for the many pedestrians, struggling in the ever deepening snow. Maybe the next thing he should discover was weather control. He would talk to Dr Slade about it. The Dr needed a distraction, from the pressure he was putting him under to produce an heir to his presidency.

As he watched the flakes fall tenderly on the ground below, he wished that he could just have a simple life, away from politics and government. But would there have been a peace to live in, if not for him.

The fire crackled behind him, and he sat back down at his desk to go over some food distribution data. This was boring, but necessary work that he had to do. He did not trust others to have complete control over his great works, and would tinker and change any system that was not working to its optimum efficiency.

Captain Kruger had said he wanted to see him urgently; before he arrived he wanted to make sure the planets harvest was ready to move, to where people needed it the most.

His intercom buzzed and his Personal assistant Margret informed him that Captain Kruger was on his way in. He came in and snapped a salute to Black, who powered down the floating holographic display. The shipping numbers would have to wait.

‘What’s the problem Guy?’ Kruger looked grave, as he approached Black.

‘Mr President, I have just received information that there is a large fleet of vessels heading towards Earth. Our relay posts estimates them to be within our orbit within six hours.’

’I take it we are not expecting a fleet, Guy?

‘No sir; from the pictures I’ve seen, from the Jupiter relay, they do not look like ours.’

’If there not ours then whose are they?

Kruger’s cold, steel blue eyes were intense as he replied.

’We don’t know sir.

Black hurried over to his desk and again brought up a holographic display, where food stock data had been previously. He tapped several icons that showed him images from the Jupiter relay cameras. The screen projected images, of around thirty cruiser size vessels, of a design that Black had never seen before.

‘What the hell are those Guy?’

Kruger came up beside the President to look at the images he was seeing. He put his hand on Blacks shoulder, which was strange. He allowed it because he was engrossed in the pictures of this coming fleet. He felt a very sharp prick from the over familiar touch, and turned to the Captain sternly.

‘What was that Guy?’

Kruger raised his hands, and walked backwards until his back was against one of the Presidents prized tapestries. On his finger, Black noticed a ring that had a spike protruding from it, and a bead of liquid at its tip.

A numb feeling quickly spread from his neck up. He put his hand to where the ring had pricked him and the movement felt sluggish and uncoordinated. Then, losing all feeling in his legs, he fell to the floor. He threw out a uselessly numb arm, to catch hold of the desk and stop his fall. The arm hit the desk like a brick, and the weight of his fall dislocated his shoulder, as he collapsed onto an Old Persian rug.

He looked up to Kruger, who was now standing over him, smiling pearly white canines.

Black tried to speak but could not move his lips to form the words. A babbled moan was all he could manage.

’Why…?

Kruger sat in the Presidents chair, and looked out of the window. He watched the snow fall for a moment. Turning his blue eyes back onto the President, he chuckled merrily at what he had just done. He knelt next to the Black, and started to stroke the fallen leader’s thick dark hair tenderly, as he purred into his ear. ‘People always ask why, when it is too late. As wonderful as you are, no one can sit on the throne indefinitely. You surrounded yourself with the best protection possible; but failed to anticipate that your protection would one day be your undoing.’

Black tried to respond but had completely lost all movement now. So he just lay paralysed, at the mercy of his head bodyguard. He tried to reach out with his mind to Keblie Tong, who he had connected with recently. But his mid was not strong enough to reach as far as the Advanced Training Academy, where Keblie was building his new guild with Master Thion.

‘I will leave you now Mr President. I would like to say before I go, that all you have built and created will be ours. All of your secrets will be discovered. It is our time now Mr President and you will have a front row seat, for all of the destruction to come.’

Kruger indicated out of the window, like he was a presenter of some great show.

‘Soon this building will be ash and ruin. You will not want to miss a thing. I know what a stickler for detail you are.’

Kruger dragged his still form, over to where Black had a view of the golden city of Geneva. How could he have been so blind to this betrayal? He wanted to wipe the arrogant smile from Kruger’s face, and groaned an incoherent sound that made no sense.

‘I just want you to know that you have gone the same way as your beloved Captain Dorn Bruce. This ring has not only defeated you, but also the shield that you hid behind. If you’re thinking that the army will stop us, they won’t. We have created a new army, with the help of someone else close to you.’

Black was going red with an intensity to break from his paralyses, and destroy this betrayer and breaker of oaths. Instead he just spat and spluttered more nonsense, which Kruger pretended he understood, and nodded along like he was listening to an old friend.

‘Dr Slade has been very helpful indeed. General Defoe and I could not have done this without him really.’

The betrayal went everywhere; maybe he wasn’t strong enough to lead any more, if he could not see the scheming right under his nose. Kruger stood and walked to the large double doors, where his personal assistant Margaret sat ignorantly. Guy Kruger had not made a sound with his attack on Black, so she would be none the wiser. The two guards outside would also be in the dark, as to what was happening so close to them.

Kruger pulled two ornate looking pistols, which were holstered behind his back and checked the weapons briefly.

‘Good bye Mr President. It has been a pleasure to serve; now enjoy the show.’

With that said he left the office, and Black heard four silenced shots spit from behind the door and then silence. A tear made its way down his cheek at the death of his beloved Margret; who had been a loyal servant for as long as Slade had been with him. The tear could not be wiped, as it dripped onto the rug he was laying on.

In the distance, there was a light in the sky that was becoming brighter and brighter, as it approached the Palace. This must have been the show that Kruger had promised. He tried again in vain to move his lifeless limbs, as he watched the beginning of his end.

***

Planet: Redeem, Class A Prison World

Caleb knew he did not have long, before all hell broke loose inside the prison. He had gathered two ropes, and tied nooses for the two men, who deserved to be punished for crimes against him. The big fat Mine Hound leader was dragged over to the central control, where all of the cell blocks converged. Still the alarm had not activated, but Caleb knew it would not be long.

He took the fat man to the first floor, where he had tied the ropes and put the noose over his head. The man had passed out from the pain of the many fractures that Caleb had inflicted. But still he mewed even in unconsciousness, from the agony he was in.

Caleb then brought the guard called Hugo Wellin up to the noose, and tightened it around his neck with more satisfaction than he would care to admit. The guard was starting to come too, and Caleb reached over and ripped the man’s name badge from his chest, and threw it over the side. He gave him a few mild slaps, and he opened his eyes confused.

He looked at Caleb then at the rope attached to him. The fear on his face should have been reward enough, for all of the things he had done at this place. But Caleb had vowed to punish all who had wronged him. He could have done this by killing them all quickly. He could have done that very easily. But they had to know that they were not just being murdered. They were being executed, for crimes against him.

The fat one had ordered the killing of Master Tong, who had burned in his cell, not so long ago. Wellin on the other hand was guilty of many crimes, including Caleb’s torture and the deaths of hundreds of men in the pit.

‘Please don’t do this.’ He cried with utter desperation. This man had not shown an ounce of compassion for those he had hurt. Caleb tied another rope around their ankles, and made his way back down to the control desk, and jumped up to retrieve the data tablet that he had kept on the ducting.

With both ropes in hand, he took the strain and gently pulled the two condemned men to the edge of the gangway above.

‘No! Please… I can get you off this planet. Don’t kill me.’

‘For now, I do not wish to leave this planet. When I do wish it; I will. I have no need of your assistance.’

Wellin struggled against the cuffs he had put on himself, to no avail.

‘I have been sending your men the necessary codes to keep them away, in case you was wondering why they have not come to your rescue. But now I am ready; let’s give them a show shall we.’

Caleb tapped in some commands on his new control pad, and with a clank, all of the prisoner’s cells opened. He then pushed the red alarm button, much to the relief of Wellin, who assumed his men would now come for him.

Gradually the inmates began to trickle into the central control area. Out of the hundreds of prisoners here at Redeem, only a few of the hardened ones dared leave their cells. Punishment after all was harsh for many here.

A few of the prisoners, Caleb noticed where Mine Hound gang members. They all stopped in shock, at the sight of the bloody and broken form of their leader.

Guards started piling up outside the locked entrance ways. They pressed up to the glass to see what was going on inside the cell blocks. A few of them even kicked at the doors, in a futile attempt to get inside the cell block and return order to the facility.

There was a microphone at the desk, where the guards would sometimes make announcements to inmates. It was Caleb’s turn to make an announcement of his own.

‘If you are in your cell, I invite you to come out and witness the end of this so called prison. I stand here and tell you that you are now safe. I am Caleb Bruce; free yourselves.’

Hundreds of inmates all gave in to their curiosity, and came to see who had released them. Dillon was not among the throng that was assembling in the large control point, which connected the four cell blocks.

A phone started to ring at the control booth where Caleb still held the two men above him, at his mercy. He ignored its monotonous call, which echoed around the crusting prison walls.

’You all know the guard before you. He has touched all our lives, in his sick and twisted way. I wonder now if death is too easy a punishment, for what he has done to us. The other, I am sure you know as well.

One of the tattooed prisoners walked up to Caleb. There was no threat in his body language.

‘I don’t know how you busted us out man, or why the pigs haven’t come rolling down on you. But the boss man you got up there. It won’t go well for you if you pull that rope.’

His Latin accent was civil and confident. Most people here would have obeyed this fearsome gang member instantly, to avoid certain reprisals that they surly would deal out.

Caleb on the other hand was having none of it. He would not take orders from anyone any longer; especially not from these men. He did however need to win the hearts of all the prisoners, if his plan was to work as effectively as he hoped. He calmed the rage inside him that called for more blood, more justice. His bunched muscles in his back relaxed and the strain of the ropes went slack.

He tied them both off, onto a railing around the booth, and faced the man who had spoken to him.

‘That man; your boss, killed a very good friend of mine. Your gang has terrorised this whole prison in a similar way to all the guards here. I will tell you what I have decided for you all in a moment, but do not think to threaten me again and live.’

He smiled, and quietly laughed at his insanity. Caleb had counted roughly twenty or so guards, behind one of the four entrances to the cell block control. He tapped the data tablet, which he had turned into his own private mobile access key. The guards spilled into the vaulted room with reckless abandon, thinking of nothing but crushing the ones who had caused this breakout.

The inmates shied away, including the one who had spoken to Caleb. They assumed their temporary moment of freedom was up, and they huddled away from the advancing guards.

Caleb on the other hand, had been waiting to let this first batch into his trap. He had spent months envisioning how he would annihilate the men who ran this place. In truth, he could have done it long ago, but for two reasons. One was the fact that once he had broken out, what would he do then? Secondly; he had only recently realised what he was truly capable of, and now it did not matter about getting off of this world of ice.

In the pit he had felt like a god of war who had no equal. It was on the sands of combat that sparked a belief in him, that he could defeat any foe and achieve whatever he turned his desire to. For now that desire was to take this facility, and dare he say this whole world. It would be all under his control, he knew with utter certainty.

He jumped over the control desk again with ease, and ran straight at the guards who were coming at him; all bent on breaking this minor rebellion. They all drew pistols and fired as they came. Fortunately, Caleb had locked them out from the main arsenal of heavy weaponry. At a speed that seemed too fast for a human to run, Caleb was among the guards before they could get off more than a few shots.

His blurring form darted around them, with just the occasional round from their pistols hitting him. They were glancing wounds, and did not slow the wrathful Caleb one bit. He could have hid behind the control desk, and trade shots with these men. But he wanted to put on a show. Death had no fear for him now. With his super enhanced healing abilities he was not even sure if he could die.

With just a knife that he had taken earlier, Caleb went through the twenty or so guards like a whirlwind. Each time he passed one of them; he would make a cut or deliver a blow that dropped them guard by guard. Once he was among them, they ended up shooting each other, in a vain attempt to hit the ghost that weaved around them, killing with impunity.

There were now only a few left. They pulled electro truncheons in a feeble hope, that they may have tired this freak of nature enough to hit him with a telling blow. Alas; this hope was in vain, as Caleb kicked and struck them at all angles, in a confusing melee of carnage.

Suddenly there was only one guard standing, and he was wise enough to drop to his knees with his hands up. If twenty men were no way near the match of Caleb, then what chance did this one hope to achieve.

‘Put some cuffs on him, and put him in a cell.’

Caleb said commandingly, to the Mine Hound that had requested he lower down his leader. Bemused and wide eyed, he obeyed without hesitation. The show that Caleb had put on for them all had the desired effect it seemed.

The other doors that locked out the rest of the guards became quiet. They no longer banged on the steel entrances. They had a good view of what had just happened to the comrades, and were not eager to share their fate. Instead they waited opened mouthed in the corridors, for orders that would not come. Caleb had seen to that by overriding the communication frequencies. The only way the Warden could coordinate with anyone now, was either face to face, or over a hard line that rang hauntingly at the control desk. Caleb walked to the ringing phone to take the call.

The other inmates watched the drama play out. They were impressed. For the first time they dared to hope that their bondage was now over. Caleb picked up the hand set cutting of the eerie ring.

‘Hello; this is the new commander of the facility. How can I help you?’