Forgotten Past: Chapter Thirty-Harsh Confrontation

Carolyn sat on her bed, her knees drawn to her chest, rocking back and
forth as silent tears streamed down her face. Her shoulder and thigh
throbbed and her wing ached, but that wasn’t why she was crying.

She was crying for Winter, her life cut short and stolen from her. She
was crying for herself, or for what she used to be. Young and in love.

Carolyn had been avoiding Riddick since Craig had let her out of the
infirmary. The details of their departure from the Company battle
cruiser were hazy in her mind, but she clearly remembered Riddick
getting shot. And if she hadn’t, Craig had been sure to tell her that
despite some tearing of the muscle and a bit of bone fracturing, Riddick
was fine.

When she was realistic she saw that all in all, it had been a good run. No
serious injuries and only one dead. One dead... one dead... A ragged sob
escaped her throat and Carolyn continued her tortured rocking, seeing
Winter’s laughing face and ice blue eyes behind her clenched eyelids.
She hadn’t been able to face Moe yet, either.

Allowing herself another sob, Carolyn pushed off the bed and grabbed
her pants off the floor and hooked a green halter top around her neck.
Halter tops were one of the few things she could wear anymore with her
wings in the way. She stepped into her bathroom and checked her
reflection. Lack of sun, sleep, and loss of blood had left her complexion
pale and waxy and she splashed cold water on her face, trying to bring
some color into her cheeks.

Giving up on that, she reserved herself to brushing out her tangled hair
and braiding it down her back before stalking into her room and
grabbing a pair of boots off the floor. She zipped them up and wrapped
her wings around her shoulders as she left her room, heading for the
lift.

She took the lift to the fourth floor where the higher ranking crew took
residence and walked through the corridor to the rooms Moe and
Winter had shared. Carolyn knocked tentatively on the door and
waited.

There was silence from the other side, but she knew Moe was there and
then she heard his quiet footsteps on the floor. The door slid open and
Carolyn lifted her eyes to Moe’s. They shone the same silver as
Riddick’s in the dim light as Moe stared at her silently.

An audible sigh escaped his lips and he stepped aside, allowing her
entrance.

Carolyn ambled past Moe into the dimly lit room and stood with her
back to him, examining the furniture. It wasn’t as if she didn’t know
what it would look like. All the rooms looked the same, merely differing
on where things were placed.

She stood on a thick carpet, one of many they’d taken from a cargo ship
from Prussia. It had been one of their first raids. Carolyn heard the
door close behind her and Moe turn to face her.

“Creed?” Moe questioned quietly. She turned to face him slowly, noting
his wrinkled clothes and disheveled hair hanging in blonde waves
around his face and in his eyes.

Carolyn suppressed the urge to sob again and her shoulders shook with
it. Winter had been her closest friend when she’d joined the Company
working as a pilot. The woman had taken her under her wing when all
Carolyn could think about was getting through every night without
going stark raving mad.

Moe’s face twisted agonizingly and she saw his shoulders heave with
silent emotion. She took a step towards him and felt her heart burst
when a single tear slipped from the corner of his eye. Carolyn let out a
choked cry and leapt at him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Moe stiffened at Carolyn’s embrace then relaxed, leaning into her
warmth and wrapping his arms tight around her waist, knowing her
pain was at least as great as his. They held each other, releasing silent
tears of pain and grief.

“She loved you so much,” Carolyn finally managed, still pressing her
face to Moe’s solid chest. She felt him nod mutely, his grip tightening
slightly.

“I loved her, too,” he murmured into her hair, his voice husky with
strained emotion.

Carolyn pulled away slightly, stroking the back of his tense neck with
her thumbs. “She was my best friend, Moe,” she told him, blinking
tears from her eyes. “If it weren’t for her...” Carolyn trailed off,
wondering where she’d be now if it hadn’t been for Winter’s strong,
and thankfully sane, influence in her life.

Without the other woman’s caring presence, Carolyn certainly would
have spun wildly into a madness induced by pain and loss. The alien
blood would have won out in the end and Carolyn may never have
regained any semblance of her humanity.

“She loved you, too,” Moe whispered, his silvery eyes wet with unshed
tears. “She would have followed you through a fire storm. You were
like a sister to her.”

“Oh, God, I’m gonna miss her,” Carolyn rasped painfully, feeling the
tears clog her throat again, letting them run hot and unchecked down
her cheeks.

Moe’s heart twisted painfully in his chest and he drew Carolyn close
again, allowing the comfort she gave and hoping to return some
comfort of his own. They’d both loved Winter, and her loss was like a
dead weight landing in his stomach. But maybe he could let go and try
to pull himself together, knowing one of the people Winter had loved
most was still around.

Moe finally forced himself to pull back from Carolyn and she dipped
her head, laughing a harsh, choked laugh.

“Uh, sorry,” she murmured and he watched her dash at her eyes with
the backs of her hands. Carolyn sniffed a few times, regaining her
composure. She’d never cry in front most of her crew, but her and Moe
had shared a special bond, and maybe if the woman that had formed
that bond was gone, they could take care of each other instead.

“Even through Winter’s gone now, maybe we can take care of each
other,” Moe said suddenly, and Carolyn blinked, wondering if he’d
read her mind. She quickly changed her mind on that when she realized
that they both knew that’s what Winter would have wanted and they
knew her well enough to realize it.

Carolyn nodded and lifted her head, smiling at him weakly. “Yeah. I
think she’d like that.”

“Hard to think a pirate could make such an impact on another person,
especially on two other pirates,” Moe commented, trying to lighten the
harsh mood that had befallen them.

Carolyn forced a smile she didn’t feel and nodded. “I can’t believe she
went like that... It’s not fair. To live through so much and then catch
one stupid bullet.” A surge of anger came over her that took her breath
away and the urge for vengeance was overwhelming.

Moe saw the murderous intent in Carolyn’s black eyes and gripped her
shoulders. “Just keep your head on straight. If I can, then you can.”

Carolyn sighed and covered Moe’s hands with hers. “Thanks for letting
me vent... For letting me have someone to lean on.” She smiled again,
her lips twisting bitterly.

Moe’s hands tightened fractionally and he smirked slightly. “No
problem. Without her, we’re gonna need someone to take care of us.
Might as well be each other.”

The events of the boarding were tangled with Moe’s words as Carolyn
headed for the prisoner’s quarters. It was on the same deck as the lower
level living quarters and she took the lift down two floors before finding
herself in the right section of the ship. Her and Jake were going to have
a little talk.

~~~

Jake Nolan sat on the metal slab. The room was cool, but not so cold
that he was shivering. The walls, floor and ceiling were all the same.
Monotone, intimidating. Metal. All shiny, medical quality metal. He
could see his distorted reflection on every surface.

Sound proof, too, he marveled as another leering face peered at him
from behind the thick plastic window on the door. The face laughed a
laugh that would never reach his ears through the thick walls and Jake
turned away.

He’d been in here for two days now. No sign of Carolyn, or Creed, or
whatever she was calling herself nowadays. A doctor with a grim face
had come to see him once he’d been unloaded from the transport.

He’d patched him up, removing the two bullets and sterilizing the
wounds. “Can’t have you dying before Creed decides what to do with
you,” the man had muttered sadistically. Jake wondered what Carolyn
would do.

Suddenly, the lights in the cell went off and Jake found himself plunged
into darkness. The tiny light let in through the window on the door
went off as well and there was a slight change in the air as Jake felt the
door slide open.

“Who’s there?” he questioned the dark. A darker form loomed just
beyond his reach and he pushed out a hand, trying to grasp the form.
There was a sound of flapping bat wings and he retracted his hand in a
hurry, bringing it to its mate resting in his lap.

The form darted past him to the other side of the table.

A dark green light began to filter through the door window and Jake
turned to see a pair of odd black eyes glittering at him from the
darkness of the room.

“Lights, full dim.” The voice came from the eyes and suddenly there
was enough light for Jake to see his tormentor.

Long blonde hair framed a delicate, familiar face and wide, black-blue
eyes stared at him menacingly. Things that looked like wings protruded
from her back and bone white claws were extended from her knuckles.

“Jake, you’ve done a bad, bad thing,” Carolyn whispered, gliding
forward on silent feet. She watched Jake’s jaw clench, a muscle
working below his ear.

“Me?” he demanded incredulously. “I’m no pirate, Carolyn,” he
seethed.

Carolyn leapt forward and pinned Jake to the metal slab, pressing the
sharp points of the claws on her right hand to the soft flesh of his under
jaw, tempted to run him through the way she’d done to that man on
Jake’s battle cruiser.

“Creed.” She snarled the correction and pushing the points of her claws
just beneath the first layer of skin. Four small droplets of blood pooled
around her claws and she bared her teeth like the predator she’d
become.

Jake felt a sort of panic form in his stomach but hampered it, forcing
himself to stay calm against the murderous rage in the eyes of the
woman threatening him.

“Do you have any idea who you work for?” Carolyn rasped. “The
horrors the Company is involved in...” she trailed off, her mind
touching on the face of her sister, the frogman, the pictures Martina
had shown them... Her own face.

Jake lifted his head slightly and felt the pressure on his neck slacken
slightly, but not enough to give him much room, and locked his eyes
with hers. “Soldiers don’t ask questions,” he stated firmly.

Carolyn let out a sardonic laugh. “Is that what they tell you? ‘Soldiers
don’t ask questions?’” She laughed again. “That’s rich. These claws?
These wings? These eyes? Look at me, Jake. You think I did this to
myself? You should see Eden.”

Shock flooded over Jake’s face at her meaning. Eden had disappeared
not long after him and Carolyn had met.

“Oh, yeah,” she confirmed. “The Company had Eden, all right. They
mutated her. She’s almost more tiger than human now. Teeth, claws,
eyes, even a tail. And the frogman. I bet you wondered about him. I had
them show you, but tell you nothing. He’s something else, ain’t he?”

“You’re lying,” he spat, doubt worming into his mind.

“Ha, you’d like to think so, wouldn’t you?” Carolyn pressed her claws a
little harder into Jake’s throat, taking pleasure in his discomfort. He’d
killed Winter, he deserved to die. But not now, not yet. He had a higher
purpose right now.

She realized that the Carolyn that had once cared for Jake was dead.
She’d kill the man pinned beneath her in a heartbeat. He was nothing to
her anymore.

Carolyn shook off her thoughts for later and leapt deftly from Jake,
landing on silent feet to watch him through narrowed eyes. “We’re
going to have a little chat, Jake,” Carolyn began, watching him
carefully as he sat up, one hand holding his throat the other at his side.

“Or, rather, I’m going to talk, and you’re going to listen,” she amended.
“But first, how are your wounds? Can’t have you dying on me just yet.”

Jake pulled his hand away from his throat, noting that the bleeding had
stopped already. Carolyn had been very careful not to harm her
hostage, he noted ruefully, almost wishing he were dead instead of
seeing his ex-fiancee stalking about the small cell like a caged predator.

“I’m fine,” he muttered grimly.

A flash of white teeth. “Good. Let’s get started. You ever hear of a
project called AAM-0002?”

Jake felt a surge of familiarity and nodded slowly. “Yes, but I never
heard of the particulars. Why, what is it?”

“I’ll ask the questions, Jake, before I answer any of yours. Just be
cooperative and I’ll try my best not to listen to my baser instincts and
kill you.” She grinned wickedly as Jake’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Okay, you’ve heard of the project. That’s a start. You notice any
strange looking people hanging around Company HQ lately? People
with strangely animalistic qualities?”

Jake shook his head. “No. I haven’t noticed anything like that, but I
haven’t been at headquarters for some time.” Jake decided that his best
bet was to cooperate. Carolyn looked perfectly capable of murder.

Carolyn seemed to be mulling over that little bit of information as she
continued to pace the length of the cell, wings folded against her back,
claws retracted. “You don’t seem nearly as useful as I thought you’d be.
Looks like I have more information than you.” She shot him a feral
grin. “ ‘Soldiers don’t ask questions,’” she repeated caustically.

“What do you think this war is about, Jake?” she questioned. “Did you
ever stop to think *why* there’s a resistance? I mean, if the Company is
so great and wonderful, why are so many people fighting against it?
Look at Sigma3. You think that’s normal? You ever ask those slaves
there what they’re in for?”

“Criminals,” he retorted angrily. “Why else would they be there?
They’re working off their debts.”

Carolyn laughed cruelly. “What could children possibly have done to
end up there? Oh, didn’t you know?” she questioned at his puzzled
look. “Yeah, they’ve got whole families there. Not just criminals.
Families. Little kids. You never even bothered to look, did you.” It
wasn’t a question.

“That’s not possible,” he finally managed around his confusion, his
doubt.

“Oh, it’s very possible. You remember Richard Riddick?”

Jake nodded slowly. “Yeah. He wiped out his whole platoon and was
killed in a transport crash on his way back to Ursa Lunar.”

Carolyn didn’t correct him on Riddick’s where abouts. “Hmm. Yes, his
platoon was wiped out, but not by him. I’m not going to tell you that
Riddick was a good man by any means of the imagination, but he sure
as hell wasn’t the monster the Company made him out to be.”

“What do you know about Riddick?” Jake questioned.

“All right. I think I’ll rectify your ignorance. You see, that transport
Riddick died on? I was the pilot. That was the ship I crashed on. The
one you thought killed me. Riddick’s here, on board my battle cruiser.
I’m sure you two will have plenty to talk about later.

“As I was saying,” Carolyn continued, ignoring Jake’s gaping mouth,
“Riddick raised a racket about the slave trade going on within
Company ranks and the Company, fearing an outcry from the public,
thus their destruction, had to find a way to shut him up without looking
like they were into killing their own men. The little murder scene was
an easy way to get rid of Riddick.”

“So, you’re saying the Company framed Riddick for those murders to
shut him up.”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. You always were a bright one. That’s
why I liked you. If I’d known what the Company was dealing in when I
met you, though, I never would have gotten involved with you. That
was a mistake. I’m just beginning to realize it now. You’re so absorbed
into your job and the power the Company has given you, you’ve turned
a blind eye to everything that’s going on right under your nose. I
thought you were a better man than that, Jake.”

“I am a better man than that, Ca- Creed. You know it. I never would
have stood for something like what you’re talking about. I’d have
gotten out of there so fast my superior’s head would spin. That must be
why I never heard of this stuff. They knew I’d run out on them,” Jake
argued. He didn’t want to believe what Carolyn was telling him, but it
did make sense. The secrecy, the hidden projects that no one would tell
him about. Why hadn’t he seen it?

“What about that project you asked me about? AAM-0002? What is
that?”

“Aluthium Alloy Mutation. The number is just some project code. That
metal everyone is after, it has mutating properties. If mixed with animal
DNA it can be used to change the structure of someone’s DNA
makeup.” Carolyn extended her wings slightly to his view. “This was an
accidental mutation. I was exposed to a type of alien blood and then
sprayed with aluthium. As you probably know, it can also cause
amnesia when inhaled.”

“Yeah. I know. They use it on criminals so they forget just about
everything they know. Unfortunately, it isn’t full proof. Baser instincts
can’t be erased the same as memories and it causes regression. It takes
more than the spray to make the amnesia permanent.”

“So I concluded. But when I inhaled the stuff it brought out the
mutation properties already in my blood system and caused what you
see here, as well as amnesia. Thankfully, Riddick found me and my
memory began to return.

“Now, Jake, you have a very limited set of options. I’m giving you some
I’d rather not. All in all, despite anything we might have meant to each
other in the past, I’d rather just kill you, but you might be worth
something to me alive.” Carolyn stopped her pacing and turned to Jake,
folding her arms across her chest.

“I’m listening,” he murmured quietly.

“You can join me and my crew in fighting against the Company in
whatever way I see fit. Second, you can say no and I’ll toss you in a
corpse tube and jettison your still living self into space until the
pressure in your body makes your head explode.”

“Is there an ‘I’ll let you sleep on it’ option here?” he questioned
seriously.

Carolyn shrugged indifferently. “I don’t care. Just keep this in mind, if
you’re interested in escape, it won’t happen here. If I could wipe out
eighty-four men and snag you with only fourteen or so people and only
lose one person, you’re not going to get off my ship. Everyone on here
knows who you are and that you’re on board. Take your time, Jake, but
for your sake I hope you make the right decision. For mine, I hope you
don’t.”

Jake watched as Carolyn left, calling, “Lights high,” before she stepped
out of the room. The door slid shut with a click behind her and he sat
on the metal slab, rubbing the tender injured skin on his throat.

The lights were bright, but his eyes adjusted quickly and he watched a
young face peek through the window. The face turned away and
nodded to someone Jake couldn’t see and he sighed, laying back on the
slab.

An hour passed and he stood up to stretch, moving the stiff muscles in
his legs and shoulders. He tried some pushups but his injured body
wouldn’t permit it so he sat on the floor, staring numbly at the door.

The tiny window mocked him and he stood and walked over to it,
peering as far left and right as he could through the thick plastic. He
couldn’t see anyone and was about to pound on the door in frustration
when the same young face appeared from below.

It was female and looked vaguely like Carolyn. Orange eyes, shoulder
length silvery blonde hair, interspersed with odd black stripes.

“Eden,” he whispered and the face smirked before ducking below his
line of vision again.

Jake groaned and returned to the metal slab. If Carolyn was telling the
truth the Company was performing acts against Man and God. Had he
really been working for such monsters? And if he did decide to stay
with Carolyn, would she let him live or kill him?

What had she said? That one of her crew had died? He wondered if it
was the woman he’d shot on the command deck and flinched at the
memory. That would explain her hate for him now.

Could he really switch sides so easily? It didn’t make any sense that
someone as high up in the ranks as him wouldn’t have been told these
things. But then again, he’d always had a way of helping the underdog.
The Company must have anticipated that he’d cause a racket if he knew
was going down.

To many thoughts raced through Jake’s tired mind and he let himself
drift off into sleep. When he awoke there was a tray of food inside his
door and he wondered how he could have slept through an opportunity
like that.

Sandwiches and a drink sat on the tray and he gulped them down in a
hurry. He didn’t stop to think that maybe this was Carolyn’s way of
killing him, and didn’t care when he remembered he could have been
poisoned after the food was gone.

“So, what’s the verdict, Nolan?” he questioned himself. Now what?

***

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