Just two hours ago I was getting laid, and now I'm in this dump.

The dump in question was a prison cell with bare walls and a single barred window too high up to see out of. Plus the wall was sheer, so Jeridan couldn't climb up to it.

Jeridan sat on the thin mattresses on a stone bench that passed for his bed. Negasi sat on the opposite one. The only other features in the room were a stinking hole in one corner for biological needs and a steel door on the opposite wall.

Every now and then, a viewing slit slid open on the door and a pair of eyes would study them. Then it would snick shut.

Neither of them spoke. Despite the medieval furnishings, this place was probably bugged.

There wasn't anything to say anyway.

Major Rainier had arrested them, marched them to a waiting truck, and handcuffed them. Then he and a squad of troops had accompanied them to the capital and its notorious prison.

The guy had been smiling the whole time.

Smug bastard. He'll probably be promoted to general for this.

They hadn't had a chance to talk with Aurora or any of the others, and they certainly hadn't gotten to talk to a lawyer.

At least the soldiers had bandaged Negasi's leg. They wanted him in good shape for his execution.

"Don't worry," Jeridan said, trying to sound cheerful. "Nova will get us out of this."

"Why would she?"

Jeridan slumped. She had been wanting to ditch them for some time now, and this was the perfect excuse. She could claim she knew nothing about the scam they had pulled on their last visit and throw them to the wolves.

It would keep her out of jail herself and leave her free to continue working for the League of Concerned Archaeologists.

Letting them get executed would be "good for the mission," and Nova Bradford always did what was good for the mission.

"I hope Helen and Mason are OK," Negasi said, worry creasing his face.

The Royal Guard had taken them away right after they captured the research center and they hadn't heard anything from them since.

What they did hear was the sound of distant firing of artillery. While the loyalist faction had retaken the research center, the coup was still going on.

Jeridan wondered if the Royal Guard won, whether they would be let go or would still be up for execution.

"They won't hurt Helen and Mason," Jeridan said. "Both factions know how valuable they are."

The thud of an artillery round close enough for them to feel the vibration reminded them that a lot of people were getting hurt by accident too. The prison was right in the middle of the city, and with the fighting this close, plenty of civilians were getting caught in the crossfire.

Mason and Helen might too.

"She's not so bad," Negasi said, looking at the concrete floor.

"Huh? Who?"

"Helen. She's not so bad. I think we were wrong to judge her."

"She's a cyborg."

"Yeah, but she's always played straight with us. I'd rather be on a mission with her than Nova."

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Jeridan snorted. "Nova may not have any implants, but she's zero percent human."

"Yeah, we can't expect any help from her."

"Maybe Aurora will do something."

"Aurora is a kid. What can she do in the middle of a civil war?"

Jeridan shrugged. "Nag and whine until Mommy gets us released?"

"Possible, but would the king listen?"

Another artillery round went off, closer this time.

"His Majesty might not get the chance."

The viewing slit on the door snicked open. A pair of eyes studied them.

"Hey! What's going on out there?" Jeridan asked.

The viewing slit snicked shut again.

"Guess we don't get to know," Negasi grumbled.

They waited a few more minutes, listening to the fighting. The artillery stopped hitting close, and was replaced with another sound.

That of small arms fire.

"Cack," Negasi grumbled. "They've stopped the preparatory shelling and they're moving in the infantry."

"Taking the main prison is always a priority for rebels. It frees their friends and makes them popular with the rabble."

Negasi nodded. "Most of the people in here are probably considered traitors of one kind or another. I wonder if the rebels free us how we'll be treated. Probably better than being led to the chopping block."

Jeridan perked up. "Hey! You got a point there. They won't want to kill a couple of spacers if they're trying to take over the government. They'll want to have good foreign relations."

"Yeah!" Negasi perked up too.

They listened to the small arms fire. It grew in intensity and gradually drew closer. Jeridan pictured the Royal guard fighting house to house and the loyalists slowly giving way.

"Come on. Come on," Jeridan whispered.

The viewing slit opened again.

"Stand facing the far wall with your hands behind your back," the guard ordered.

"What's going on?" Jeridan asked.

"Stand facing the far wall with your hands behind your back."

They did as they were told.

A bolt slammed to and the door creaked open. Heavy boots tromped across the room. Jeridan felt the prison guards put handcuffs on him.

The guards turned them around and marched them out of the cell.

"Where are we going?" Negasi asked.

"No talking."

They marched along a bare corridor lined with doors identical to their own. They passed through a locked gate, down a set of stairs, and into another corridor.

Here were cells for commoners, barred instead of sealed with a door. In these cages were packed dozens of men, ragged and thin. Many bore bruises on their faces.

And they were all cheering the firing they could hear in the background. Some were rattling the cages, others were banging tin cups against the bars. They swore and made crude gestures at the guards as they passed.

The guards said nothing, just sped up.

Then it occurred to Jeridan that besides the four guards escorting them, he hadn't seen a single prison official in their entire walk.

Down another set of stairs, through two locked gates, and out into a high-walled courtyard open to the blue sky.

The firing came clearer now, the steady rattle of machineguns from two sides of the prison.

In the courtyard were parked three ground vehicles—an armored car, a smaller police car, and a large prison van with its back open. He spotted Major Ranier climbing into the armored car.

Jeridan thought the guards would lead them into the police van, where he could see handcuffed prisoners lined up on the two benches inside. Instead, they took them to the police car, opened the back, and shoved them inside.

"Get their handcuffs," one of the officers said to the other. "They're secure enough back there and we need them for the pickups and kilometer ten."

The officer removed the cuffs. Jeridan sat there, rubbing his wrists and looking for a chance. All he saw was the muzzle of a police pistol and the gray prison walls.

The door to the police car slammed shut.

"Hey," Jeridan called through the grill dividing the back seat from the front. "Where are we going?"

"No talking," the driver said.

"You guys are getting predictable. Can't you think of another answer?"

The officer in the passenger seat turned and gave them a threatening look. Jeridan shut his mouth and kept it shut.

The driver hit a button on the dashboard and the large steel gate in the wall began to slowly open.

The driver hit the gas, not waiting for it to finish opening.

Jeridan gritted his teeth as the car shot through the widening space with barely an inch to spare on either side. The armored car came next, scraping the sides, then the police van.

"What's the hurry?" Negasi asked.

Jeridan chuckled.

The prison gate opened onto a narrow lane leading for a half a kilometer to a highway. A tank and several army trucks were lined up on the shoulder of the highway. Sheltering behind them was a row of soldiers firing at something to the side of the prison compound.

A bullet plinked off the side of the police car, making Jeridan jerk. He looked to the left and he could see firing come from a cluster of houses not far from the prison wall. The tank on the highway fired and the wall of one of the houses burst in a cloud of dust and debris.

That didn't stop the firing from the houses. The armored car in their little caravan opened fire with a heavy machine gun. A bullet spiderwebbed the window next to Negasi's head and his friend hunkered down. Jeridan got low too, but peeked over the edge of the door to see how the battle progressed.

The armored car right behind them kept up a steady fire, raking the buildings with large-caliber rounds.

A rocket streaked from one of the distant windows and slammed into the armored car. It detonated. The shockwave spun out the police car they were in and the car flipped, tumbling over and over.

Jeridan was knocked out cold before it came to a stop.

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