[ussbanshee] "The Riot"
- From: "Brad Ruder" <GroundZero@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: ussbanshee@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 11 May 2002 16:22:36 -0700
"The Riot"
Lt. Joshua Asper
Chief Tactical Officer; USS Banshee
Written:
May 11th, 2378
The structure was luminous at night, visible from kilometers away,
and within the next five minutes I would be locked inside for two
years. No, it wasn't something that I looked forward to, I wanted to
be able to roam freely. I guess I finally realize what my parents
meant by 'don't give into anger'. They were the smart ones, I guess I
had showed them that I was otherwise. The shuttle pod, which had
been converted into a prisoner transport vehicle, skimmed over the
tree tops of the North Dakota area. A small secluded area that had
been uninhabited for centuries. Since World War III had happened,
which had included the loss of over six million people, most places
on Earth that were wooded were abandon. Most governments had fallen,
and Starfleet was eventually born and designated this as the juvenile
detention center.
I had given in to my anger, I had traversed the barrier of anger and
resentment, to full-blown hostile intentions. And so it had become
that I was destined to be punished. All I did was paralyze somebody
from the waist down, I didn't kill him. And besides, I had been
provoked. When someone walks around and basically calls you stupid
every day of your life, you get use to it. I did, but he went
farther and started insulting my family. He didn't say it directly,
but in his own words Jeremy (Mr. Paralyzed) had called my mother a
tramp, a hooker, and a prostitute. So, being the defensive person
that I am, I beat him mercilessly over the back of the head with a
lawn hoe, no harm done, he got what was coming to him.
The shuttle pod landed and the forcefield was lowered, they hauled me
out at phaser point and led me into the building. People shouted,
boys lined the hallways in makeshift cells. Forcefields buzzed every
ten meters, indicating that there were security checkpoints in case
of any problems. They marched me into the Warden's office, but he
wasn't really a warden. He was Commander Kellen Amadane, a rejected
Special Forces applicant that was pushed into rehibilitating youthful
people such as myself. He stared at me as I was shoved down into the
seat.
"Joshua Brandon Asper. Your father would be very displeased to know
that you were sent here, if he wasn't so sick." He walked around the
front of his desk, leaning against it slightly but never losing his
eye contact with me, "You have done something pretty bad, son."
"I am not your son, and I know what I did."
"Are you sorry for it?"
I smiled, "Absolutely...not."
"Why not?"
"He, as in Jeremy, insulted my mother in front of people. He can't
get away with that stuff, and I showed him that he couldn't. He will
think twice next time before even thinking about doing anything like
that." I leaned back in the chair, stretching.
"Cell THX1138. If your parents had raised you right, you wouldn't be
in this situation." I wanted to tear his head off, but the guards
would have stopped me. The Commander motioned to his officers, "Make
sure that he is comfortable, give him something to eat, and then
prepare for the lockdown procedure."
They led me from the room, down a series of corridors and into a
turbolift. I rode it down, with them holding both arms, into the
underbelly of the establishment. We walked to my cell and the
forcefield was dropped; I was let inside and given some rations for
the replicator in my cell. They smiled and left. I walked over to
the replicator and got some macaroni and cheese, what would you
expect from a sixteen year old?
"Pssst..." A voice came.
I looked around, "Who's there?"
"Over hear, by the forcefield." I walked over and there was a hole
big enough to the eye of someone else. "Hey, I am Olenatopov
Scarayana, but you can call me Olen. What are you in for?"
"Two years, assault with deadly intent."
"Wow, that is a new one, we don't have that many complex punishment
here." He was amusing, and he made me feel as if I was the baddest
one in the place.
"What did you do?" I asked.
"Pushed an Ensign down to the ground."
"What?"
"She was a female, Bolian, and she broke both wrists."
"At least you didn't paralyze someone."
"Really, that's cool. I have a question, can you fight?"
"Fight?" I asked, my curiosity overpowering my logic.
He smiled and nodded, "You know, hand-to-hand combat. Can you punch,
kick, dive, jump, and elbow people?"
"I guess I could if I have to, why?"
"No reason..." With that, he turned around and went back to his cot,
turned facing the wall and went silent. I perked an eyebrow, and then
returned to my own cot and turned towards the wall. 'Fight?' I
thought, and I drifted to sleep.
A week later I got a letter, addressed to me from my mother with the
word 'PRIORITY' flashing on the front. I opened it in a hurry and
gasped, nearly dropping it to the floor. Olen heard it and ran to
the hole we communicated through.
"What is it Josh?"
"My father, he died yesterday, Poxian Measles."
"Oh, bummer Josh, I am sorry..."
I held back a tear, "Don't be, he was going to go anyway, and he told
me that when he did that I shouldn't cry for him, and I said that I
wouldn't."
"Ok, buddy, if there is anything I can do..."
"No, that is OK." I interrupted him before he could finish.
I read on, the long lines of detail and hardship that my mother faced
had been relayed through words that stung harder being read then if
they were said. I read on, into more stuff about my case and any
chance of appeal. "Damn..."
Olen came again, "What is it this time?"
"They denied my appeal, I am stuck here for two years..."
A year passed silently, I met new people and saw most of them leave.
Olen had gotten into some trouble with the guards, and they had
sentenced him to another three years there for 'Obstruction of
Rehibilitation' and almost tacked some more on for assault on a
superior officer. He came to me one night in March and talked with
me.
"Asper, you around?"
"Go ahead, Olen, what can I do for you?"
"Remember when you first came here?"
"Unfortunately, why?"
"Remember how I had asked you if you could fight?"
The memories rushed back to me of that night, and the terrifying days
that had seemed to endlessly follow after that. "Yes, what are you
getting at?"
"Tomorrow we are going to riot."
"WHAT?!" I said as I dived to the hole and listened.
"There are six wings to this center, all extending from the main mess
hall and meeting area in the center. Each of the six wings have six
levels high. All levels have a total of thirty cells; fifteen on each
side of the open monitoring space. Guards walk down and can gaze up
on both sides checking to see if every works OK. Each wing has a
designated leader. I have been designated leader of this wing, Gamma
Wing. The others, Omega Wing, Alpha Wing, Beta Wing, Echo Wing, and
Delta Wing, have their leaders as well."
"What does this have anything to do with a riot?"
"Shut up and let me explain." He said as he shrugged off my
question, "Tomorrow, at o-eight-hundred, they will open ALL cells for
routine socialization periods. Forcefields will be activated so you
can't mix and mingle with the floors above you and below you. The
bad thing about this is that the lowest level can't get into the main
meeting area. I have rigged my replicator to construct a forcefield
disruptor when you ask it to make ham and eggs. I will toss this near
where the forcefield should be, and we can escape out into the
meeting area on level three. There, we will enter the Warden's
office, which is suspended above the circular meeting area in the
center, and hands between the third and the fourth floors. We will
then activate a sequence of commands which will send phasers, through
the replicators, into each cell. Then we will deactivate the
forcefields that separate each section, go down and escape from this
place."
"Novel idea."
"A good one too." He complimented himself. "Are you in, or are you
out?"
"I am out, Olen. You know that I would help, but I got one year left,
and I won't jeopardize that to fight a war that isn't worth winning.
Besides, when you get out, you will be a wanted person, I don't want
that."
"Fine, stay put then."
The next day was bad. I waited for them to deem it time for the
socializing segment of the day. Olen, as he had said, had replicated
a forcefield disruptor and rolled it next to the projector. They
boost the fields, except for the one getting disrupted, and opened
all the cells. People poured out and ran through the forcefield that
was shut down and into the Warden's office, he was gone for the day
and phasers materialized in all of the cells. I grabbed mine, not
intending on using it, but for protection if the guards got vicious.
Guards began dropping, and all of the kids started shouting as if in
victory. More backup troops transported in, phaser compression
rifles slung over their shoulders. Kids started getting mowed down as
the guards had set their rifles to widebeam.
I watched in horror as the kids started getting outnumbered. People
retreated inside thier cells and dropped their phasers in defeat, as
the others who will still fighting started dropping in mass numbers.
I fired a pot shot or two, nailing a couple of guards. I stepped out,
nailed a couple more of them and proceeded down the hallway. I
climbed down the ladder, picked off a couple more who didn't see me,
and stepped into the Warden's office, there I saw Olen with the
Warden. Commander Amadane was on his knees, facing away from Olen,
who had a rifle strapped to his shoulder, aiming straight at the
Commander.
"Olen, is that on stun?"
"No."
"I thought you said you weren't going to kill anyone?"
"I lied."
I raised my phaser and pointed it at Olen, "Drop it Olen, now."
"You said you weren't going to get involved."
"I lied." I said, mocking him but keeping my phaser held toward his
chest. "Now drop the rifle and back away."
"And if I don't?"
"I will shoot you, what more do you need to know?"
Olen smiled, "I figured you would do something like that. NOW!"
Three kids popped up from behind consoles, phasers aimed at me. With
instincts, I fired, dropping two before the third got a shot off. I
took a shot in the left arm and I backed up, firing and nailing him.
Olen moved, kicked the phaser out of my hand and pointed the rifle at
me.
"I thought we were friends."
"You thought wrong, if you are going to kill that man."
"Then I was wrong." Olen turned and I kicked him in the back of the
knee, collapsing him to the floor. I rolled over and reached towards
the phaser with my good arm. He got up and beat me in the face with
the butt of the phaser rifle; I tasted blood. He had shattered my
lip open and I was bleeding. He smiled again, "Not so tough now, are
you?"
Commander Amadane reached for the phaser, rolled, shot and then
stopped. Olen looked confused, and then smiled as he turned. The
phaser shot had impacted just above his head. He pointed the rifle
at the Commander's head. "This is set to maximum setting, enough to
vaporize you and leave no trace but the burnt molecules." The
commander dropped the phaser, which happened to roll towards me, but
Olen wasn't aware of it.
"Don't kill me!"
I reached and grabbed the phaser.
"Let's play a game. You run as fast and as far as you can, and I
will hunt you down and kill you, then you have a minimal chance of
escaping, but not much." Olen showed a side I hadn't seen, a mean one.
I aimed the phaser, "How about you and I play Olen, now run."
Olen turned around, "Huh?!"
I smiled, "Oops, you lose." I pressed the button and the burst of
energy erupted from the end of the phaser, it impacted him in the
chest and he fell to the floor. The commander breathed a sigh of
relief and collapsed against the console, I sat tasting blood as the
blood continued to pour. My arm, which I could hardly feel, sat limp
to one side. "That was a fun game, I won at least."
The Commmander turned to face me, "Josh, your parents did raise you
right. If they hadn't, I would be dead right now."
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