Chapter Fifteen Corrina
“You didn’t think to mention to me that you narrowly avoided being poisoned?” Curran growls at me across the desk.
“I was going to mention it as soon as I was sure,” I correct him absently, staring down at the report. “And I wasn’t sure until the report came back just now.”
“Don’t give me that bullshit, Commander,” Curran grumbles. Liu looks slightly uncomfortable with the way my second-in-command is addressing me, but I know Curran is only responding like this because he’s worried.
“And according to the tox report, it wouldn’t have caused physiological damage on its own.
” I tell him. “It was just a paralytic. And that’s encouraging to me because it implies that someone wanted me incapacitated as opposed to dead.
Tox indicates that it likely wouldn’t have been enough to paralyze me completely – this particular compound doesn’t typically interfere with heart or lung function.
But a typical human would have been out of commission at twenty-four hours. ”
“I disagree with your assessment of that fact as ‘encouraging,” Curran replies.
“Well, relatively speaking. But I think it means someone is getting desperate. And we both know that desperate people make mistakes. My bigger concern is that whoever left that box didn’t leave any trace of themselves either on any of the station footage or in terms of physical evidence. It feels professional.”
“What are you going to do?” Curran asks.
“Right now, there’s not a whole lot that I can do,” I reply with a heavy sigh.
“I’ll obviously be careful, but I’m close to wrapping up this case and I’m not about to be scared off seeing this through.
” I glance up to see Davix and Zann approaching the office and wave through the closed doors.
“Speaking of which, I’ve got one last interview to complete. ”
As I sit down across the table from Davix in an interview room, I notice a scar running across his throat.
If it were Krish or Zann, I might ask about it, but I doubt Davix would appreciate my curiosity.
Besides, it’s probably best to maintain as much distance as possible between them and me until the inquisition is concluded.
Which will hopefully be soon once I get this last interview done.
I can’t help but notice, however, the way both he and Zann are covered in shallow cuts and bites.
Having watched them fight, that doesn’t surprise me.
What does surprise me is that all of their wounds are shallow and superficial.
Given the ferocity of their fighting, I would have expected them to have more injuries.
The fact that they don’t either means that their skin is incredibly tough or that they have an incredible level of control. Or maybe a little of both.
Davix shifts in his seat, and I realize I am staring.
“Have Krish or Zann explained how this works to you?” I ask, dropping my eyes to the equipment before looking back at him.
Davix nods in response. “Good,” I reply.
“As much as possible, we want to hear your story in your own words. Are you both ready to begin?” They nod, and I get the equipment started.
Having heard both Krish and Zann’s stories, I think I have heard the extent of Lianov’s malice and cruelty. I have not. “Once the motivator was implanted, there were – there are – some gaps in what Davix can tell you personally about what happened in the ship,” Zann says cautiously.
“ Why is that?” I ask.
Davix’s face contorts in anger, and he signs something to Zann. They exchange hand signals for a moment, and Davix slaps the table angrily. “He does not wish me to tell you,” Zann says unnecessarily.
I pause the recording. “I understand that, and if it was only for me, I would not ask. But this information could be helpful to hold responsible those who helped Lianov.”
Davix scowls and crosses his arms across his broad chest. He makes a hand motion that I interpret to mean to keep going, so I restart the recording. “Davix sometimes spent hours unconscious from the pain chip,” Zann say softly. “Lianov would trigger it and leave it on for long periods of time.”
I feel my stomach turn and the question is out of my mouth before I can stop it. “Why?”
Zann glances at Davix. “Davix is incapable of creating sound. But the Lianov creature wanted to see if he could make Davix scream. He found it…amusing…that Davix could go through the action of screaming without producing noise.”
I stop the recording and stand suddenly.
My head is spinning, but not from the sudden movement.
“Excuse me. I actually need a moment.” I push back my chair and escape the room, breathing heavily.
For a moment, I wish that Lianov was still alive so that I could give Davix a chance to kill him more slowly and painfully.
It's unprofessional, but at the moment I am so horrified and angry that I don't care. I wanted to catch Lianov for years. IPC knew he was involved in illegal activity, but no one could ever prove it. I’ve seen the consequences of Lianov’s actions before – creatures so badly injured that the only humane thing to do was to euthanize them, the destruction of entire ecosystems because one of his client’s exotic pets or flora escaped its confines, the desolation of his so-called employees who had no way out of his slimy grasp.
But all of that pales compared to this. Lianov knowingly enslaved intelligent, curious, sentient beings and then tortured them for his own sick amusement.
I can’t even imagine the pain and suffering that Davix, that all of them, endured. I don’t think I want to.
In the academy, back before motivators were banned completely, they gave us a simulated pulse as part of our conditioning.
One single pulse lasting less than a second.
It was excruciatingly painful. About half of our class passed out from the pain.
And for Davix to have had one triggered and left on just to satisfy some sick whim is unspeakably cruel.
My stomach roils again, and I take in and let out a slow breath.
“Just get through this interview,” I mumble to myself.
Davix and Zann are signing furiously when I reenter the room, but they stop immediately upon my return.
“Forgive me,” I say, sitting down again.
Davix refuses to look at me, and Zann’s expression is unreadable.
“Shall we continue?” I ask as impassively as possible.
They both nod. The rest of the interview passes in something of a blur, though I struggle to maintain an impassive expression as Davix offers his version of the well-deserved end of Captain Lianov.
“I know it cannot have been easy to relive all of that, but I appreciate you all being willing to let me record your stories,” I say after I end the recording for the final time.
“What happens next?” Zann asks.
“I will turn all of the reports and recordings over to the council for review, and they will determine next steps,” I reply.
I don’t mention that next steps could include anything from rounding up Lianov’s collaborators to relieving me of my position and tossing me in prison.
“But I will have more time once this is done, should you still wish to visit the rest of the station.”
Davix is still refusing to look at me, but Zann nods. “We would like that. We will go now.”
I watch Davix stalk out of the interview room with Zann trailing behind him. “Get Curran back in my office if you can,” I say to Liu and then close the door to my inner office. I collapse into my chair and put my face in my hands.
“You okay?” Curran’s gruff voice interrupts a few minutes later.
“Lianov turned on Davix’s motivator and then just LEFT IT ON,” I grind out. “Even after Davix would pass out from the pain.”
“Holy fuck,” Curran whispers.
“What’s a motivator?” Liu asks. Curran turns to face my assistant.
“Imagine having every single nerve in your body light up with the most intense pain you’ve ever experienced.
Then multiple that by a thousand,” Curran replies.
Liu pales slightly. It’s one of the few times I’ve seen my assistant look even remotely unsettled.
The other being when Zann prevented me from eating a cupcake laced with a powerful paralytic.
Curran turns to face me again. “And Davix survived that?”
“By blacking out at times, but yeah.”
“Holy shit.”
“Yeah.” We are all silent for a moment
“Those are some tough bastards,” Curran says finally. “Remind me not to piss them off.”
I laugh. “Me too.” I shake my head. “But you know what really gets me?”
“What’s that?”
“After everything they went through, how are they not more angry and bitter? I mean, Davix is grumpy and clearly doesn’t trust any of us.”
“Who could blame him?” Liu chimes.
“Even as injured as they were, they probably could have slaughtered every single person on that ship. On both ships,” I muse.
“But they didn’t. They took out Lianov, and then they waited to see what we would do.
” I glance up at Curran. “I’ll be honest – I don’t know if I’d have that kind of self-control. ”
“Let’s hope we never have to find out.” Curran says. He steps into my office and drops into a chair. “You have to admire that about them,” he says. I'm inclined to agree. “That interview was the last piece, right?”
I nod. “Unless you’ve got good news from our Fixers,” I say hopefully.
Curran shakes his head sadly. “Whatever the hell kind of encryptions and protections Lianov put on those systems, they are no joke. The team is making progress, but they still haven’t managed to get access.”
“And Alek?” I ask. Of Lianov’ crew, Alek is the only one who was willing to talk to us and only after a promise of a new identity and a new start somewhere remote.
Curran shrugs. “He’s told us everything he can, but he was essentially an indentured servant himself. Gambling debts.”