Chapter No.18

What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world.

- Robert E. Lee -

Marty sat in the command chair and was not happy to be doing so. He was now in command of two powerful ships loaded with weapons and he was not afraid to use them. That realization gave him the cold sweats. What he really didn't like was the fact that Angie wasn't here to make the important decisions that spelled life and death for millions.

"Open COM to the X-4001, Delphi."

"COM opened, Martin."

"Prepare to fire three Nova weapons at the Cyborg fleet when they emerge from jump. After the detonations, launch all fighters and prepare to engage."

"Acknowledge that, Commander."

"Please arm three Nova devices in forward tubes, Delphi."

"Yes, Martin."

Marty turned around. "Take over Honey. Fire the Nova devices as soon as the Cyborg fleet comes out of jump. Coordinate with the X-4001."

"I will, Martin."

"Okay, let's go. We have to get the fighters ready to launch."

Ninja joined him. Andy, Tiana, Theodore, Edward, Uma, Moto, Jean-Michel, and Taka followed them to the elevators. When they arrived on the equipment deck, Marty gave them their orders.

"We will wait for the detonations before we launch. Brian's fighters will attack from the left and we will attack from the right. Fire weapons at full power. I want all of the enemy ships destroyed in this system."

Nobody questioned his orders. This would be a fight to the death.

"Please fire the Nova weapons in coordination with the X-4001, Delphi."

"Yes, Honey."

The weapons shot out of the forward tubes with ominous swishing noises. Everybody on the command deck braced for the resulting explosions.

And they were not disappointed. The main screen went brilliant white as six Nova Buster bombs detonated at the same time, destroying a large portion of the Cyborg fleet. The resulting high energy particle waves blasted into the X-5001's shields with a loud screeching noise that lasted for several seconds. When the screen returned to normal, those on the command deck could see the fighters accelerate off to battle.

"Take us up to battle velocity, Delphi. Transfer weapons to Wendy and Arby."

"Yes, Honey."

"Okay, kids, get ready to shoot."

"We are ready, Oh Great One."

"I am One not the Great One," Honey protested to Arby.

"He has become flaky," Wendy said.

"I don't care," Honey said. "As long as he blows up lots of enemy ships."

"My aim is true," Arby said.

There was no such levity on the X-501. Marty and Ninja were minutes away from contact with the remnants of the enemy fleet.

"We will come in from behind them," Marty said. "There are still too many of them to take on all at once."

"I have noted that they like to come head on," Ninja said. "I think that we could destroy more of them if we turn up sharply and then slip back to hit them in the rear."

"Sounds like a good plan to me," Marty said. "I'll turn up at the last possible second."

The first group of enemy ships appeared on the main screen. Just as Ninja had predicted, the ships flew head on, firing energy beams. Marty waited until they were within a thousand kilometers before turning sharply up. The ships turned to attack, but Marty throttled back so that they flew past. He then sped up to come up from behind. Ninja blasted all three ships into oblivion.

Honey flew the X-5001 into the fray and her two children began firing at such a rapid rate that none of the enemy ships could get out of the way fast enough. Despite Honey's wild maneuvering, her kids never lost a beat. They were able to shoot and destroy enemy ships even while the X-5001 was flipping around like a drunk butterfly.

Marty and Ninja were busy taking on enemy ships at a ferocious rate. They were destroying ships despite taking withering enemy fire. The other fighters were holding their own, but the X-4001 and the X-5001 were making the difference. The enemy fought to the last, but they were ultimately destroyed.

The X-503 with Andy and Tiana on board had managed to damage an enemy ship but not destroy it. Brian launched a fighting Lander loaded with a squad of marines. The Lander attached to the damaged enemy ship and boarded it. After a fierce battle, they managed to capture a Cyborg.

When Marty retuned to the X-5001, he was informed of the capture.

"Bring him to me," Marty said.

"Yes, Commander," Brian said. "He will be transferred as soon as possible."

"Prepare to return to the Cyborg base," Marty said. "We will get underway as soon as I have the Cyborg."

"Copy that, Commander."

***

Marty looked down at the Cyborg lying on an examination table and then at Honey and Onuki. "What's his condition?"

"Honey has removed all of his metal parts," Onuki said. "He has no serious injuries."

"We want to know where your home world is located," Marty told him.

"You expect me to betray my command. Even if you torture me, I will not give you what you want."

"We don't torture," Marty said. "We don't do things like that, as opposed to your people who torture and kill just for entertainment."

"We kill biological units to eradicate them," the Cyborg said. "We torture them as punishment."

"Punishment for what?"

"For being alive."

Marty gritted his teeth. He motioned for Honey to come with him to the back of the room.

"Do you think that you could tap into his computer brain and feed the contents to Brigit?"

"I can do that, Martin," Honey said. "But, I do not know if Brigit can interpert the data."

"Maybe you could help her."

"I will do that, Martin."

"Good. Do it. I'll go warn Brigit that the data is coming."

"You can depend on me, Martin."

Marty gave her a smile before hurrying up to the command deck. He found Brigit at her station, but when Jean-Michel came on the command deck, she got up and they hugged. Everybody knew what was going on. This battle had not been without its casualties. Theodore and Edward did not return and Brian had lost two fighters.

"Honey is going to send a stream of data from the Cyborg's computer brain. We need to determine if we can discern the location of the Cyborg home world in it."

"I will need help for that," Brigit said.

"Honey will be up as soon as she completes the transfer."

Brigit nodded.

When Marty returned to the examination room, he found Honey was almost done with the transfer.

"I want him put in stasis," Marty said to Onuki. "I'd like to just shoot him out into space, but I realize that I can't do that."

"I will take care of it," Onuki said.

"Thank you."

***

"We should be at the planet in a half hour," George said.

"There are no enemy vessels in orbit," Ninja said. "But, there are Cyborg defenders on the base."

"We will take a full attack force down there," Marty said. "Perhaps, we can get information from them that will locate the Admiral and her party."

"Yes, Martin."

Marty was not going to waste any time in this attack. He took down a full compliment of marines and Draks. Three fighters attacked the main enemy emplacements and blasted holes in the fence. When the marine and Drak units rushed through they took out the remaining Cyborg defenders but took casualties in the process.

"Get the humans and Dragons ready for transport," Marty ordered Uma and Moto. "We have to find the Admiral before it's too late."

"How will you locate her?" Uma asked. "There are too many enemy bases. It would take months to go to all of them."

"I realize that. I'm hoping and praying that Honey and Brigit can interpret the Cyborg's computer brain data."

"There are no Cyborg defenders left alive," Moto reported. "They fought to the death. We lost four marines and seven Draks."

"I feel terrible about this," Marty said, pain showing in his face. "We can not afford to lose people like this. We need to find the Cyborg home world so that we can end this."

"We will, Martin," Ninja said. "Victory will be ours."

Marty wasn't so sure of that.

***

When Marty came onto the command deck, he found Brigit and Honey still working to decipher the Cyborg's brain data. In the dim red glow of night lighting, their screens glowed with a glimmer of hope.

"We think we have it figured out," Honey said. "The data was not digital as we first thought, but was in the form of large matrices."

"What have you discerned from it?" Marty asked.

"The Cyborg home world is a star 83.6 light years away from here. We checked it out and it's a K3 class red dwarf star with seven planets orbiting around it."

"That's fantastic!" Marty exclaimed.

"We have extracted many star charts which show Cyborg bases. Unfortunately, this Cyborg did not know where they have taken the Admiral."

"We'll have to use deductive reasoning," Marty said.

"Yes," Honey said. "However, we will need more data to use in this deductive process."

"Keep trying." Marty looked at Brigit. "You look like you need some sleep. Why don't you take a break?"

"I cannot be concerned about sleep when Angelina, Lia, and Tyler are being tortured."

Marty swallowed hard. He felt the same way.

***

Angie stood waiting for her tormentors to come for her. She spent the time trying to relax before she would suffer unspeakable torture. One half of her looked forward to the pain. She thought of it as reparation for the suffering she had inflicted on others. The other half dreaded suffering at the hands of merciless machines.

The two females came forward to grab Angie, but Angie shook them off and went with them without being forced. They took her to a chamber with a large table that had a metal pan on it. A large meat grinder stood next to it and an assortment of ominous looking cutting and chopping tools lay on a side table. Angie surprised them by removing her robe and crawling into the pan without being ordered to. The first thing that the female Cyborgs did to her was shave off all of her bodily hair, first using a clipper and then finishing with a sharp blade.

"We will start by cutting off your toes," one of the female Cyborgs said.

"Wait a second," Angie said with her face twisted with alarm. "I don't understand. If you cut me up into pieces, I will die before you punish me again."

"This is one of the methods of punishment we can use."

"But, if you cut me up, I will not be in any shape to be punished."

"This punishment will not be permanent. You will see."

"I don't understand. If you cut my toes off, they will be permanently missing."

"Please allow us to sever your toes."

Angie swallowed hard and then voluntarily held her leg up so that a female Cyborg could hold her foot. "Here are my toes. They are yours to cut off."

While the one female held her foot, the other female gripped her large toe in the blades of a cutting tool that resembled a gardening trimmer.

"We are not accustomed to compliant subjects," the female holding her leg said. "We appreciate your cooperation."

"We have two females like you in our crew," Angie said. "We treat them with kindness and respect."

That surprised the two female Cyborgs.

"We must follow orders."

Angie smiled. "I know."

Angie wondered what it would be like to have her fingers and toes chopped off. Would it hurt really bad? Would it bleed a lot? She braced for the expected pain, but the female paused to increase their victim's panic.

Angie huffed and puffed in anticipation of the pain, grimacing and whimpering. When the blades severed her toe, she screamed but she didn't pull her foot away.

The female Cyborg gripped a second toe in the cutting tool, pausing to add to the punishment.

"Please don't. I beg you. Don't cut my toe off."

"We are sorry, but we must."

Angie heard the cracking sound that accompanied the severing of her toe, and she yelled and cursed. At this rate she would become a hopeless cripple.

"We are surprised by your cooperation," one of the females said to Angie. "You are not trying to fight us, but are instead freely offering your body to us."

"I don't blame you," Angie said through clenched teeth. "You are only following orders. I forgive you."

"We will cut off one of your fingers now," the female said.

She laid Angie's leg down in the pan, and Angie immediately offered her left hand so that one of the females could hold it so that the other female could grip her index finger in the cutting tool. Angie wanted to turn away and not watch, but her curiosity got the better of her. She huffed and puffed again in anticipation of the terrible pain. When the female chopped off her finger, Angie screamed. She watched in horror as a female Cyborg dropped her toes and finger in the meat grinder. She lay there in pain, her entire body shaking from the shock.

"We will do your foot now," the female said.

Angie watched the two females systematically chop off her three remaining toes before they picked up a tool with a serrated round blade. One female held her leg while the other female went to work. Angie heard the pitch of the cutter's whining noise change, smelled the bone burning and saw her blood splatter as the whirling blade sliced neatly through her leg. She watched a female Cyborg stick her severed foot into the grinder and heard it being ground up. The grisly scene was like a nightmare gone bad. She was watching her body being cut up as if she were being butchered. All she could do was bawl.

"We must cut your ear off," a female Cyborg said.

Angie moaned and then turned her head to the side. The female positioned a razor sharp blade at the intersection of Angie's ear and her head and cleanly sliced her ear off. Angie screamed and held her bloody hand up to the bloody wound.

"Damn, that hurts!" she cried with tears and blood streaming down her checks.

"We are sorry," the female said. "But, we must punish you."

"Why?" Angie cried, grimacing from pain. "What did I do to deserve this?"

"You have been judged a criminal and must be punished."

"That's crazy," she cried. "We have done nothing to you."

"We are sorry, but we must punish you."

"What's next?" Angie asked through clenched teeth.

The one female turned to the other before turning back to their willing subject. "We will do your hand."

Angie held the hand with a missing finger up, and one female held it while the other female gripped another finger in the cutter. When she chopped it off, Angie screamed. "God damn, that hurts!"

The female gripped the next finger, and Angie bawled. "Please have mercy on me. It hurts."

While Angie squirmed around in pain and screamed at the top of her lungs, the females chopped all of the remaining fingers off and then prepared to cut the hand off.

Angie cried and bawled, withering around in agony. "Wait. Wait. Give me a chance to prepare."

"We will afford you this because you have been a cooperative subject."

"What do you do after you cut my hands, feet and ears off?" Angie asked.

"We do what we are ordered to do."

"Okay, I understand. I'm ready," Angie said, gritting her teeth in anticipation of the pain to follow.

She watched in horror as her hand was sliced off and thrown into the grinder. She lay in a pool of blood from her terrible wounds, and she withered around in agony from the pain, not knowing how long she could remain conscious. She looked at the bloody stump where her hand used to be and cried.

The two females looked at each other before one of them turned to Angie. "We do not know what to do?"

"I thought that you were going to finish cutting me up," Angie said through clenched teeth. "You may as well. I'm going to bleed to death anyway."

"We are sorry. We were ordered not to terminate your life."

"You're doing an admirable job of terminating me," Angie cried. "I'm totally worthless now that you've cut my foot and hand off. You may as well finish the job and cut me up."

"You still have a hand and a foot," the female Cyborg said. "If you wish, we could cut off the hand or the foot."

Angie lifted her good leg up. "Go ahead and do the foot."

One of the females held her leg while the other female chopped off her big toe.

Angie screamed before she passed out.