Read Online Onekka - The Tragedy of Jaqui Fennet by Michael E Bell - Free Book Online Page A

task for which you have already given the
sacrifice."

"I have such doubt, such gnawing pain inside me. This is a mess!"

"You are not responsible for what has happened, Jaqui. You are a victim,
and victims should not be punished. The authorities will not understand that.
They will see only the murderer on the surface, not the victim beneath."

She shifted in discomfort. "But I am a murderer."

"No, you are a killer. There is a difference. You had no choice."

"I feel so guilty, Thirty Seven. If I'm not to blame, why do I feel so
bad?" If she was awake, Jaq knew she would be wringing her hands. She
hated that.

There was a wave of soothing emotion from the direction of her companions.
"You are conditioned that way, Jaqui. By convention, culture, routine and
hierarchy. People are cruel, and believe all must exist in a perpetual state of
guilt, required to prove their worth continually in order to deserve innocence.
Pay no mind to the effects of this regime."

Jaq smiled. "You are so wise."

"We are always here for you, Jaqui. Remember the three signs."

"Breath, knight, dark," she muttered.

"Yeeeessssssss."

*

At lights up, Jaq was feeling a whole new sense of wakefulness. She didn't know
why DePennier hadn't called for her yet, but every minute he left her alone was
a chance to slip his grasp.

She started with an inventory of the items she had available. The gruesome bits
- one hand, broken and two eyeballs, unsquished - were in her stasis locker.
She decided to leave them there, not willing to risk decomposition by having
them out for any length of time. She knew her own, personal bunk was a
dangerous place for them, if only because DePennier would certainly think to
check it, but there currently seemed no alternative.

The passkey and scribbled-on scrap of paper - she couldn't remember the random
combination of characters that seemed to be a password, regardless how many
times she tried - she slipped somewhere nobody would look. At least, she
thought, if they got as far as looking there, she'd already be so caught that
it wouldn't matter any more. That just left the monster handgun and its boxes
of ammunition. Even looking at it made Jaq shiver. Ballistic weapons were
banned in space for good reasons. Combine that with high calibre, HE
ammunition, and the situation reached a whole new level of insanity. What had
Garret been mixed up in, and did Jaq really want to find out?

Damned right, I do!

She ran through the procedures of loading and unloading the weapon. She'd never
fired a handgun, but with a little movie-based knowledge, they turned out to be
terrifyingly easy to use. Forty eight rounds, she had - four full clips of ammunition.
That was enough to kill every person on board, especially if you knew which
parts of the station to hit. If, for example, you had a full set of Structural,
Mechanical and Electrical schematics to hand. She put the weapon under her
pillow, not quite knowing why, and secreted the ammunition beneath her bed.

At that moment, Jaq's comm unit binged and she almost fell off the mattress
she'd been perched on. A single bing meant there was a message, and that meant
somebody had called during her abortive date with Derek, since she felt sure a
night call would have woken her. She moved to the unit and stopped, her finger
hovering over the message button. What if it was DePennier, calling her a
traitor, demanding she hand herself in? Jaq fought that thought down. Even if
it was, this would only be a recorded voice, and it was better to be in the
know.

It was a vid message from Helen, and the woman looked liked she'd been put
through an auto wash and wringer cycle. Her hair splayed from her head in
random, damp bunches, her eyes were bloodshot, and her skin had that pallid
looseness of complete exhaustion.

"Jaq!" she said, her gaze dancing from the camera to her hands, to
the door of her bunk behind her. "Jaq, you have to help me. I don't know
who else to turn to. I think I can trust you. Please