The Planet 6.1

6.

6.1 Confession

Peggy held on the fear stricken man like a young babe seated on the flooring while Duggan was pacing the floor. Damn I felt stupid standing there when we should be kicking ass to get answer. Machete was getting better then; he was communicating with some far flung droids. He was not doing a good job then; nobody of the mechanical means was responding. The bum was a failure then. I wanted to laugh but with Duggan around, I need to look grim.

Duggan was outraged by then.

“Peggy, screw your friend or I will do it.” Duggan hit out. He has a soft spot for her. We all knew which was why Peggy gets the cushy number on the tasks.

“Commander” That tone from Peggy meant that one she was upset and two she may kill us if we cross her. She had her rifle next to her. With us construct, that was as good as the rifle being cradled on the hand. Duggan glared at her. It looked to me like a standoff. I read of one before; OK Corral it was called. Great gunfight and lots of bad guys went down.

So are we the bad guys? Or the droids? Funny it never crosses my mind before.

“John!” I heard the shout that rumbled my thoughts. I looked at Duggan.

“Yes, you. I was trying to talk to you. Are you with me?” Duggan looked at me. “I want you to check the system again. There may be something we missed.”

I nodded and the decided to be the smarter guy, I looked at Peggy and then Dmitri.

“Why can’t we ask him?” I motioned to Dmitri. Even before we could react, Peggy had her rifle aimed at us. She was quick on there. I had rifle down or OK Corral would had been replayed there.

“Touch him and I will kill you.” The bitch was really mothering the Corsair but it was the later who stirred.

“There are ghosts here.” Dmitri muttered out. “They were everywhere. Everywhere.”

Dmitri was either crazed or was making us believe in spirits. We were into the 23th century with all the innovations but the concept of spirits still baffled us.  Last I read on the news vid was Halloween; a silly prankster holiday for the children to have a treat and for those of us who were older, the only night to act more stupid. It was last Halloween when I decided to play the ‘Russian Roulette Challenge’ with the then Sidney of the DOD. We were drunk and it was Halloween. Maybe the darker spirits came onto us then but Sidney lost the challenge. He lost half his face with the brain matters. No healer could re-construct him back so we left him there on the flooring. I guessed the others buried him. Or maybe the spirits took him away. I cared not but the scene of Sidney’s last moment haunted me for some nights. So I guess spirits do exist then with me playing the challenge those nights. The only difference was I died in those dreams. I also dream of all the others whom I killed. They haunt me nightly. I told no one and suffered in silence.

“There are no ghosts.” Duggan hit back. “You are crazy.”

“No, you are just a coward. You ran like a ferret.” Duggan continued on. He was all about the bravery code. To him, 

anyone who ran was from the battle was a coward. “You ran and in my view is also a disgrace.”

“No…There were spirits. I can’t explain.” Dmitri tore his way of the clutches of Peggy. He pushed himself up but was wobbly on his feet. Peggy up and held him.

“Fuck you. You are a coward.” Duggan was all flat out then in his anger. He rushed towards Dmitri and pushed Peggy off the man with his right fist. He then landed a left hook fist onto Dmitri on the face. The Corsair went down onto his knees and had Duggan right knee in the face.

“Coward!” Duggan was deranged then. I used my rifle and clubbed him on the back of the head. It stopped the man who went down. I then found myself looking at the raised rifle of Peggy. She was tethering at the edge of shooting me and Duggan. I stepped over to cover Duggan. It was the decent thing that I guess.

“No….Peggy.” It was Dmitri. The Corsair had stood up. “Don’t shoot. He did not mean it.”

“No, no one will believe us.” Dmitri staggered on his feet.  “Nobody will believe that we did not run. We retreated. We are the Corsairs. We do not run. It was the ghost which we were retreating from. You have to be there to know it.”

“I was there. I saw it.” Dmitri continued on. “I fucking shoot it.”

“I shot it.” Dmitri cradled his head in his hands. “I tried….”

“I tried. God, I really tried.” Dmitri started sobbing. Peggy went to his aid but I pulled her away.

“Don’t baby him. We need to know the truth.” I snapped at her. “It’s Intel that we need. He is the only one with the Intel.”

Peggy came to her senses and stepped away. I was relieved then. I approached Dmitri and grabbed him by the jacket lapel. I pulled him close to me.

“Start talking.”