Extensis Vitae

Chapter 13



“Attention…the council meeting will be held in 30 minutes. Please meet at the Administration Office in thirty minutes. This applies to the regular members as well as the special guests invited from the expedition to Colony 13. Please be prompt. Thank you.” The pleasant female voice boomed throughout the complex over the PA system.

Reznik arrived at the meeting a few minutes early and waited in the lobby outside Swanson’s office with the others. He saw that the two women from Colony 13 were sitting by themselves, and Dr. Kane was speaking with a couple men that were unfamiliar. Reznik greeted Carmen and Sara and they responded politely, but apparently weren’t up for any conversation.

He was examining one of the paintings on the wall, when someone came up next to him. June stood there wearing her security vest, carrying her helmet in hand.

“Hi,” she said shyly. The resemblance to Allie, Nash’s sister, was stronger than ever now that he had taken note of it.

“How are you doing, June? Is it good to be back on the job?” he asked.

“Yes…I didn’t know what else there was for me to do, so I figured I might as well…” She trailed off with a haunted look in her eyes.

Reznik felt the awakening of anger deep down again. “Well, I think it’s great if you are feeling up to it already. I admire your strength.”

“Thanks. I wish I could have done what you did out there. We, I mean. Our security force is pretty woeful, honestly. We just don’t have the training to deal with situations like that.”

“Well, my society was a lot different than the one you’ve been living in. There was always a need for professional soldiers. Whether or not everything here will go back to normal now, I couldn’t say. But I’d be happy to show you a few things if you like,” he offered.

Her eyes grew wide. “Sure, that would be great!” She was about to say more, but the door to Swanson’s office opened and his secretary came out.

“Please come inside, folks,” the woman said, leading them into a conference room adjoining the lobby. The council members took their seats and the invitees sat at the end of the table. Swanson entered a moment later and sat at the head of the table.

“Thank you for joining us,” Swanson began. “The last couple days have been trying for all of us. We received some great news, of course, with the return of Dr. Kane, Ms. Wagner, and the ladies from Colony 13. On the other hand, evil and violence have shattered our peaceful way of life here. Now we are at a critical juncture as to how to proceed. Much remains to be decided, but first, I think we should start at the beginning. Ladies, if you would be so kind as to describe the events leading up to all this.”

Carmen and Sara exchanged glances, and then Carmen began to recount the story she had told Reznik after their rescue. Sara mostly remained silent, except to provide an occasional detail. Carmen told them how the outlaws had breached one of the walls of the facility with a huge mining drill machine, and how all of the colonists had been terrified and panicking. She described how the outlaws had come through the breach, gunning down the security team and anyone that stood in their way before everyone had fled or was subdued. After that, they were all corralled in the common rooms. When it was evident that the administrator wasn’t present, Haze and a couple of his men went to break into the administrator’s office. They beat and tortured the administrator, murdering his family before his eyes, before finally killing him. Then all of the colonists had been locked in the storage rooms while Haze’s gang looted the facility. After a day or two, the outlaws picked out four women for their cruel entertainment, and sent the rest with Haze’s second-in-command, a man named Mason, who took them away to the skin traders. Carmen, Sara, and two other women were beaten and raped regularly. The other two women had tried to escape, but were caught and killed.

The council erupted with outrage and horror throughout Carmen’s story, especially regarding the treatment of the women. Reznik again thought of Allie when he looked at June with her haunted eyes, and he had to clamp down on his anger once more.

“Thank you, ladies,” Swanson said somberly. “Truly a horrific series of crimes perpetrated against the innocent people of Colony 13. Ms. Wagner, Dr. Kane—if you two will fill everyone in on the details of your mission?”

June began the story, but choked up when she tried to describe the ambush and murder of her fellow guards. Dr. Kane took over and described how the two of them had woken up in chains inside the common area with the other two women and how they were threatened and beaten. When he saw the horror on June’s face from reliving the event, he spared them a lot of the details. He also briefly mentioned that the outlaws had neglected to refuel the reactor and the colony had run down to emergency power. All the while, the outlaws had been devouring the colony’s stores of food and drink.

Next, it was Reznik’s turn. Glossing over the graphic details, he recounted the ambush on Haze and his men in the corridor outside the vault door, and how he had searched the facility until he had come upon the captives in the common area. He described the fight and taking Rin prisoner and their return to Colony 12.

“My concern, though, is that the rest of the band could return at any time,” Reznik cautioned. “It will be necessary to take care of them, or at least disable the drilling machine and reseal the breach in the bunker wall. I would advise that we deal with them on our terms by being prepared to confront them upon their return, as opposed to having to go in and root them out again.”

The council murmured in agreement. They looked around questioningly between Swanson and Reznik, unsure of how to handle the situation.

“That is a valid point. We will have to plan and decide this later,” Swanson finally said. “Thank you all for your valuable information. We now need to plot a course of action and press on. We have security as well as logistics concerns to deal with here. Not to mention it still needs to be decided what to do with the prisoner.”

Another council member spoke up. “One of the critical concerns would be the stability of Colony 13’s reactor. If the cooling system malfunctions, there are safety mechanisms to prevent a core meltdown, but it is imperative that we get a team out there to inspect and determine the condition of the reactor and whether it is still functioning properly. If these savages somehow damaged the reactor itself, then we very well might have a serious radiation threat on our hands.”

“Another concern is the preservation of the food supply,” another man added. “Without power, the irrigation systems won’t function, nor will the grow lamps, so all the crops could die. The same with the refrigeration units—if backup power fails, those too will fail.”

The discussion continued on for some minutes before Swanson raised his hand. He must have seen the invitees’ eyes glazing over, as he dismissed them. “Thank you again for your testimony—all of you. You are free to go.”