Here to There part 5

Previous: part 4

The bright yellow star rose that morning and drove the dark away. The Colonists emerged from shelters and homes and began their day mostly unaware of the arrival of the soldiers in the night.  Sergeant Anna Kandrini watched them with a frown while standing at the large window in the Chief's office.  She mused on the events of the last night and sipped the steaming cup of stimulant infused liquid they had found in the Security Administration building.  She grimaced at it's bitterness and then turned to face the other occupant of the office.  Planetary Governor Arnold Fairley's bulk was barely contained in one of the flimsy plastic chairs that were haphazardly placed in front of the Chief of Security's desk, which was Anna now claimed.

"As I was saying, my dear, there was no need to take these extreme measures."  The Governor straightened his tie.  "The Chief was a bit...overzealous; I'll admit.  However, his job is keeping the peace, and that is made difficult when heavily armed strangers appear from thin air in the dead of night."  He leaned forward and flashed his pearly whites.  "And, as last night's events demonstrated, his fears were not entirely unfounded.  We've had enough violence here recently, and tensions are high."  With a  nonchalant gesture he continued, "It was all I could do to keep the rest of the Security personnel from laying siege to this building to free their Chief from the cell you stuck him in." He paused and steepled his hands and peered at her over them. "So, in the interest of making the remainder of your stay here productive, and with the full authority of my position as Planetary Governor, I am going to have to demand that he be released."

Anna took another sip of the disgusting brown fluid.  "I will respectfully refuse," The Governor bristled and began to rise from his chair when Anna stopped him.  "For now.  My men have taken over Security here while we sort out what exactly is going on."  She grabbed one of the printouts her Corporal had provided her after accessing the non encrypted parts of the archaic computer systems in use.  Most of it wasn't even able to be accessed with a virtual reality interface for profit's sake.

"This is a copy of the report of the night you sent for help.  It states that a Corporate Survey team, sent to find new mineral wealth, became drunk and engaged in a firefight with Security Personnel.  Further it reads that most of them were killed and the remainder driven into the wilds."  She shook her head,  "We've also found that Security teams have been hunting for them for months now with no luck."  With a tilt of her head she finished the remainder of the viscous concoction.

She leaned forward and placed her hands on the desk and spoke directly at the politician.  "What it doesn't mention is why these men as a group became so aggressive that they would fight to the point of losing multiple men and being driven into the untamed wilderness of an alien world.  Nor, sir, does it explain why they were not left for dead, and an ongoing hunt for them is continuing."

Next: Part 6