Morph

Chapter 3: Unexpected

Deacon frowns at me with concern in his eyes. I'm a bit surprised myself. If they were going to attack they would've done it already. Quickly I scan the ship; once more I'm baffled. Deacon looks at my screen and reads what I cannot explain.

"It's a woman? And a child?" he says perplexed. Had the Corporation made a mistake? I shrug it off; there is no way these people are pirates.

"Prepare to breach hull" I inform, heading down the weapons center. Deacon follows me close.

"Officer Richards our orders are to seize the ship. Once we bring it to Orson station they'll take care of the occupants." My mates inform me. Something is off. My instincts are never wrong, why wouldn't they arrest them first then send the ship back like normal procedure?

"They might need medical assistance" I insist, letting them know I do not agree.

"Our scanner indicates they're in perfect health, officer" *Damn it! * Maybe it's just my maternal instinct kicking in, I've heard of things like that. Still I can't shake the feeling that something is not right with this picture. Once more we do system check and prepare our travel back home. It takes us double the time to get home this time; star jumps cannot be engaged when hauling a ship. We arrive at the Space Camp at dawn, or what this planet calls dawn anyway. It's an amazing sight to see two suns rise, filling the air with bright oranges and yellows. One moment it'd be dark and cold the next bright and scorching ~ The best of both worlds.

When we dock, military cadets are waiting for us. Chief Carmine walks up to us, we salute him and he extends his hands in congratulations shaking our hands.

"Well done officers, I knew I could count on you" *Am I missing something? * I observe when the defense forces move in to arrest the woman. The child, of course, would be sent to a foster home. I'm attentively watching the ship's ramp waiting to catch a glimpse of them. But what I see next almost makes me laugh. A military officer comes out running holding his bleeding nose.

"That fucking bitch bit me!" shots are fired and more forces are sent inside. It gets quiet for a minute or two, then she comes running out. All of the sudden everything seems to go by slowly, I can see everything happening play by play. She's wearing dark blue cargo pants with a top to match, black boots, dark brown hair that's medium length and she's carrying a plasma gun, she shoots with precision only to harm not to kill. Behind her the child is running also, my view goes back to normal. I crouch down, rolling out of shooting range. Out of view I wait for Deacon to draw her attention away. *Now * I tell myself. Running low and quiet, I sneak up behind her, she senses me and turns around pointing her gun. *Too late * Her eyes dart down looking at her child in my arms and my gun pointed at her.

"It's over, put the gun down now!" her eyes are pleading ~ remorseful. *What is that in her eyes? *

Guards surround her, yelling for her to surrender. She closes her eyes, as if to will herself to put the gun down. Slowly she kneels, placing the gun on the concrete floor. They're on her in a heartbeat, her child remains silent but I still hold him in place.

"Momma has to go now, but I'll see you soon OK. Remember what I told you right?" the child nods and she's taken away. I feel his little head turn to look up at me. His eyes are... familiar. Deacon swats the back of my head and I curse at him, he reminds me there's a kid present. The Chief walks over to me and kneels down to look at the child.

"Do you have any idea who he is?" amazement in his voice, clearly. *Was that a question, or was he informing me? * I answer anyway.

"No Sir, I do not" but I'm dying to know that's certain. He calls for some 'White Coats' to take the child to the laboratory. Deacon shoots me a look.

"Shouldn't we report this to the Military Intelligence?" he asks. I shake my head and walk away I know I can count on Deacon to trust my instincts.


To be continued...