Patriots Chapter 10

Time: That evening.

It was a typical evening for Richard. He finished work, went to the gym to fight the eternal battle of the bulge, and then came home. And now he was just puttering around in the kitchen putting his dinner together as the wall-screen played the evening news feed.

It was just your typical sorts of things, what bills were advancing in the government, local elections, the extension to the hover-bus lines that were planned for the next year. Just your usual things, so mundane in fact the audio was muted. At least until something caught Richard’s eye.

“What the?”

The screen showed an actual physical reporter on scene in front of a construction site that was surrounded by capitol police. The sight made Richard quickly retrieve the remote to un-mute it. *“They never send out real reporters unless it’s major.”*

“I’m currently on scene in the capital near the construction site for what will be the newest tower in the skyline. However, as you can see it’s currently cordoned off by police and the Planetary Bureau of Investigation tonight as it was the site of a shooting earlier in the day.”

Richard’s eyes widened as the studio anchorman’s voice cut in.

“That’s unusual in this day and age! Have you heard anything more about the nature of the incident from the police?”

The reporter shook her head. “No, I’m afraid not, neither the Capitol Police nor the PBI have released any official statement on the matter yet. However, some sources have confirmed that the sound of the firearm used in the event was consistent with Dlamisan plasma weaponry. Also, if you see over there…” The camera panned to show another vehicle parked on scene marked with the logo of the Capitol Medical Inspectors office. “A van from the city coroner’s office is on site so clearly there’s at least one victim.”

“Dlamisan weapons? Has the Embassy made any statements on the incident?”

Another shake of the announcer’s head. “At this time the Embassy has not returned any of our calls or given any official comment. Even though the incident caused several prominent members of the Walker family, who were in the park at the time, to be put into security lockdown.”

Richard shook his head and turned off the screen as he sat down on the couch in his living room. “Holy shit…” Being a little stunned was understandable when the news put out the first reporting of something that could easily turn into a major diplomatic incident.

He sat there musing about it for a spell only to be startled back to the here and now by a loud knocking on the front door of his apartment. Scrambling to his feet he answered the door to only have the evening get even stranger. “Perdy?!!!”

“Hi…sorry if I’m intruding but I couldn’t think of anywhere else to go.”

“No come on in.” Richard stood aside to let her in a look of concern crossing his face as he looked her over. “I-Is that blood?”

“Don’t worry, it’s not mine.” Perdy sat down on the floor next to the couch, clearly in a bit of a daze compared to her usual self. The big Dlamisan put her head in her hands and let out a soft whine. “I-I killed him. I didn’t want to, but it got out of hand…I killed him…”

Richard swallowed and knelt next to Perdy and put his hand on her shoulder and gave her hand a gentle squeeze with his other. “Perdy, I-I’m not sure I understand. What happened?”

“O-Oliver…when I refused to do the job, he got angry and pulled his sidearm. I deflected his arm when he took the first shot and then it became a hand-to-hand struggle. He kept trying to get a good aim at me and I was just trying to hold him in place till he calmed down.” She swallowed. “It got so bad…I wasn’t even trying but…I-I tore his arm off. He started screaming and had to…I picked up the sidearm and…” Perdy shuddered and just shook her head as she kept her face hidden in her hands.

Richard took a deep breath and gave her shoulder another squeeze. “Job? I’m afraid I’m still a little lost here. What sort of job would be worth all this?”

Perdy slowly picked up her head and looked at Richard, another whine escaping her as all eight of her ears drooped. “Richard…I-I’m sorry, I’ve been lying to you for the entire time. I’m not commercial security, I actually work for the Dlamisan Ministry of Intelligence. A-and I was here with Oliver to stop Bailey Walker from forcing more changes in our society.” She whined a little bit more at that admission. “Please don’t hate me.”

“It’s…It’s a lot to take in I admit.” Richard paused for thought as he knelt there next to his friend. “What made you change your mind?”

“Bailey is the best chance for the Alliance to work. A-And I saw how happy humans make my people. So many wagging tails here on Earth, with none on Dlamias. We need you, and therefore we need Bailey.” The big female let out another sniff and a soft whine as another thought crossed her mind. “I-I can’t go home…I killed my partner, and they’ll kill me if I go back.”

Another whine and she looked at Richard with an expression that could only be described as that of a kicked puppy. “What should I do Richard? I-I don’t have a partner anymore, I can’t go home, I don’t have anywhere to go….”

Richard took a deep breath and gave the big Dlamisan a gentle hug. “Hey, it’ll be okay. You made the right decision to not kill Bailey and you only acted in self-defense after. But you’re right this is a deep hole to dig out of.”

“Y-yeah what do I do? I don’t want to cause you any more problems.”

“Shhh…” Richard gave her a gentle squeeze. “Just give me a moment to think.” He just held Perdy for a few minutes as he pondered the available options. “I think I have an idea; it’ll be a rough road to travel but I think it’ll be your best shot.”

“I-I trust you, and any idea is better than I have right now. What’re you thinking?”

“I think you’re going to have to turn yourself in to the Earth government and co-operate with them. It’ll give you a better chance to survive than if you let your government grab you.” Richard waited for Perdy’s reaction and let out a slow breath when she nodded. “Okay, let me go get my phone.”

Richard stood up and went back to the kitchen to grab his phone off the counter, after a few minutes of searching and he soon found the number he wanted to call.

“Hello, Planetary Bureau of Investigation? I’m calling regarding the dead Dlamisan in the capital. I have a person of interest to the investigation with me and she’d like to claim asylum.”