Shattered Truth

Chapter 6

Chapter Six

September 12, 2228, Neo Southern California Metroplex, Police Enforcement Zone 122 Station, Captain’s Office.

Jia and Erik slipped into the captain’s office, fully expecting Captain Quinene, their bland if non-offensive interim captain. Instead, they found a man in the formal black and blue uniform of an NSCPD police officer with captain’s rank insignia on his collar.

The huge golden-haired and bearded man sitting at the desk was large enough that he might look imposing even next to Erik. Several data windows floated around him. He swept his hand to dismiss the one right in front of him, revealing his nametag, which read Ragnar. He stood, extending his hand.

“Excuse me,” Jia began, confusion flavoring her voice. She stepped forward and gave his hand a light shake. “Um, what are you doing, and why are you here?”

The new arrival barked a hearty laugh. “I’m Alexander Ragnar, and I’m the new captain of the 1-2-2.”

“Sorry, no one sent anything ahead explaining,” Erik related, also extending his hand for a firm shake. At his full height, Captain Ragnar had a few inches on him, and the handshake to match.

“Yes, Detective Blackwell. I suppose that much is true.” Captain Ragnar settled back into his seat. “Quinene was never supposed to be more than a placeholder, and it wasn’t like Monahan was going to come out of retirement.” He looked at Erik and Jia. “Especially after all the trouble you two stirred up. You turned a simple fraud investigation into tangling with gangsters in the Shadow Zone and killer security bots and put enough pressure on Ceres Galactic they offered up a sacrificial lamb. I don’t know if I should be impressed or worried.”

Jia narrowed her eyes, her suspicion plain. “Then you believe Ceres was more involved than they claim?”

He gestured to one of the data windows. It contained an image of David Esposito, the former Ceres vice-president, who had claimed he was acting on his own.

“I’ve been a cop for a long time. Long enough that I know that someone like Esposito doesn’t sneeze without permission from higher-ups. You don’t get as big as Ceres Galactic without a few skeletons in your closet, if not a whole damned building full of them.”

Erik wondered how old Captain Ragnar was. There wasn’t a hint of gray on his head or in his beard, but he wasn’t wrinkle-free. In the end, it didn’t really matter as much as one other crucial piece of information.

“What’s your deal?” Erik asked, not adding any fake mirth into his tone. Sometimes he got tired of the dance of pretending to be happy-go-lucky, and he needed to know whether Ragnar, like Monahan, would need to be forced to do the right thing. Erik couldn’t watch his partner’s back if he was busy trying to protect them both from the rest of the department and their captain.

“My deal?” Captain Ragnar’s gaze cut toward Jia, the merriment in his blue eyes not matching the subtle tension in his neck and mouth.

“Yeah,” Erik rumbled. He stepped forward, but Captain Ragnar didn’t move or flinch.

Jia cleared her throat. “Sir, if I may?”

“Go ahead, Detective Lin,” Captain Ragnar replied. “I’m always open to clarification.”

“I’m going to be straightforward with you, and I hope you’ll return the favor.”

The corner of Captain Ragnar’s mouth raised in a barely-there smile. “I’m a happy guy most of the time, and one of the reasons is that I don’t hold a lot in.” He winked. “It keeps my stress level lower.”

Jia inclined her head toward her partner. “Erik and I are here to solve crimes.”

The smile on the captain’s face grew into something resembling genuine amusement. “Isn’t that what every detective here is being paid for?”

Jia snorted, although her expression suggested she regretted it instantly. “Captain Monahan was helpful toward the end, but he seemed…resistant to us expending much effort in the pursuit of investigations unless we forced the issue. He passed along a large number of cases. Too many, in my opinion.”

Erik grunted. “That’s her way of saying he was a lazy coward until we forced him to look into the pile of stinking garbage pretending to be a perfect little metroplex.”

Captain Ragnar let out a low chuckle. “Yes, I’d call that straightforward.”

“It’s a fair question,” Erik continued. “If you’re not here to help us, then maybe you should move along like Monahan and Quinene.”

Jia opened her mouth, a slightly disapproving look on her face, but she didn’t say anything. Instead, she nodded her agreement.

“You haven’t been a cop for long, Detective Blackwell,” Captain Ragnar observed. “I’m not going to complain about how either of you became a detective, because from what I can tell, you’re actually good cops, but you might not appreciate that there are a lot of politics involved with being a cop.”

“And I don’t give a crap about any of it,” Erik replied.

“Let me put it a different way. Are you telling me you never had to worry about job politics in the thirty years you were in the Army?” Captain Ragnar’s brow lifted in challenge. “I’ve known plenty of retired officers, and none of them ever suggested they didn’t have to worry about that kind of thing.”

“I spent most of my Army career in command of at least some soldiers,” Erik offered, keeping his tone lighter than before. “When you’re in command, politics matter more. But I’m not in command now. I’m nothing but a grunt, and a grunt shouldn’t have to worry about any of that garbage if his commander’s doing his job, Captain.”

The men stared at one another, neither moving a muscle nor saying a word. Erik wasn’t sure if this was a test, but he wasn’t about to back down.

Jia sighed. “It’s not that Erik and I are unaware of the political implications of investigations, Captain. It’s just that we don’t feel those should have greater consideration than whether or not a crime’s been committed. If all you have to do to get away with a felony is be wealthy and work for a large corporation, we might as well just disband the police and let private security run everything.”

Erik looked at Jia before pointing to her and looking back at the captain. “What she said.”

Captain Ragnar leaned back in his chair and shot a long, appraising look at both of them. “I agree.” He held up a hand at Jia’s frown. “I agree about politics coming second to taking down criminals. Both of you can dial it down. I’m not here to screw with you or complain about Erik running around with a TR-7 or you both riling up the entire metroplex. I just wanted to get a feel for you, because again, if we're honest and straight with one another, you two are the reason I’m here, and ultimately the reason there are a few major job vacancies within the force. Yes, CID swooped in at the end for the glory, but you set everything in motion.”

Jia folded her arms, her frown lingering. “What do you think about what happened at the jewelry store?”

Erik was glad to see Jia standing up for herself. She’d always been stubborn, but when they had met, Captain Monahan had had her benched and doing data review because she’d let him push her around with regulations.

She might accept that Earth wasn’t the paradise she previously believed, but she wouldn’t be able to clean it up if she let the cowardly and corrupt manipulate her. Obeying all rules only made sense if everyone else was doing the same thing.

Captain Ragnar scratched his cheek. “I’m not going to say I prefer to hear about my detectives trading fire with suspects, but every report I saw also said there were no innocent people in the line of fire, and you gave the suspects a chance to surrender. Besides, I’m not going to ask any cop working under me to sit there and take live rounds from suspects. Live by the sword, die by the sword. It applies as much on Earth as it does the frontier.”

“Good, because I don’t plan on giving up my peacemaker,” Erik admitted.

Jia opened her mouth. “It’s a bit much, but even I’ll admit it comes in handy.”

Captain Ragnar’s eyes lowered.

Erik figured out he was looking at his PNIU after a few seconds.

“She listening?” the captain asked.

“Who?” Erik asked.

Captain Ragnar shook his head. “I’ve read about Emma in the reports. It’s not like I’m entering this job blind, and it’s not exactly like you’re keeping her a secret from everyone else.”

Emma materialized as a translucent hologram beside Jia, using her standard form, an attractive red-haired middle-aged woman in a white dress. “I’m always listening. It’s how I expand my capabilities, which, after all, is the reason the Defense Directorate left me with Detective Blackwell. I would think you wouldn’t want to undermine the future security of the UTC by interfering with that, Lord Big Viking.”

“Lord Big Viking?” The captain laughed. “You’ve got a mouth on you, which is not something I ever thought I would say to an AI.” He looked the hologram up and down. “I’m not going to complain about the military basically giving one of my detectives a free super-toy, but now that we’ve got all that out of the way, let me lay it out for all three of you.” He inclined his head toward Erik. “I’m like Detective Blackwell. I’m not a Neo SoCal native. I’m not even a California native. I’m from the Minnpaul Metroplex. They brought me here with a lot of UTC pressure on the NSCPD and the Council because everyone on Earth is now looking at Neo SoCal, which is supposed to be the ultimate expression of what the modern UTC is. They are asking the obvious question.”

“What the hell happened?” Jia suggested. “And could it happen where they live?”

Captain Ragnar let out a low, grim chuckle. “Exactly. Rogue corporations, corrupt police chiefs. And most of them don’t even know about her.” He nodded at Emma. She smiled. “So, they brought in an outsider with no connection to anyone here. That means I don’t have a lot of local allies. They’re going to do the same thing for the chief. They feel a new start means they can convince everyone the system isn’t the problem, just a few bad apples, but here’s the interesting part. They’re also not convinced all those bad apples are gone.”

“Not so convinced myself,” Erik agreed.

Jia nodded. “That level of corruption involves more than a handful of men.”

“Humans lack mental fortitude,” Emma added. “And thus they’re easily corruptible.”

“Contagion,” Captain Ragnar declared. “That’s what they’re really worried about. Even if not all of the Council is as corrupt as Winthorpe and the chief, a lot of them are looking the other way, just like Monahan did. And that means we still have sources of corruption, and corruption has a nasty way of spreading. I wouldn’t be surprised if by the time this is all over, you don’t just see a new chief, but a lot of new captains and politicians and bureaucrats.”

“Not complaining about self-serving bastards getting taken out,” Erik replied. “But what does that mean to us grunts on the ground?”

“Grunts? Well, it means we’re going to war against crime.” Captain Ragnar’s toothy smile was at odds with his grim description of the situation. “And you’re a former soldier, Detective. You know you can’t go to war without grunts. It’s too hard to go after all the corrupt leaders at first, so we will start at the bottom of the ladder and work our way up. It’s not going to be something we’ll solve in a few weeks or even months, but the higher-ups want the truth about Neo SoCal to match the propaganda.” He pointed at Jia and then Erik. “You two said you want to fight crime. I’m ready to let you off the leash to do just that, with full enforcement zone support.”

A huge smile took over Jia’s face, and she rubbed her hands together in almost gleeful anticipation. Erik wouldn’t have been surprised if she actually licked her lips at the chance to start arresting more criminals.

“That’s good to hear.” Erik’s voice was laced with obvious suspicion. “But you’re right. I was in the Army, and in the past, I did have to deal with politics. One thing I saw more than a few times was the big brass getting embarrassed and wanting a big show to prove to people watching that something was being done, but once the next shiny thing comes along, they stop caring and they yank on the chain again.”

Emma snickered. “It would be amusing to see you with a chain around you.”

Erik shot her a look and she shrugged.

“Does it matter?” Jia asked. “If we’re taking down criminals, that’s useful in and of itself. If they’re connected to someone more important, we’ll work up the ladder like he said.”

Captain Ragnar nodded at Erik. “I’m not trying to feed you BS, Detective Blackwell, and I’m not pretending there won’t be a lot of pushback. I was selected because the UTC and the American governments did everything but shove a scanner up my ass to make sure I was clean. I’m going to help you as much as possible, but you’re right. There are a lot of people with a vested interest in the way Neo SoCal is currently established and run, and no one’s under any illusions that those people aren’t going to do what they can to apply pressure and throw up roadblocks, direct and indirect.”

Erik grinned. “I’ve got a flitter. I’ll just fly over any roadblocks, real or political, and if I can’t?” He shrugged, the grin remaining.

Jia shook her head. “He’ll probably just blow them up with a missile.”

“If it gets the job done, I’ve got no reason to complain.”

Jia side-eyed him. “Let’s try to solve cases with fewer explosions.”

Emma laughed. “You might as well tell a shark to move to land.”

“I think you’ll both do fine,” Captain Ragnar offered. “But, yeah, let’s cut down on the number of explosions if possible.”

Erik feigned a disappointed look. “What I am supposed to do with all those missiles I bought?”

Jia’s eyes widened.

“I don’t have any missiles, Jia,” Erik told her. “Not yet, anyway.”