Frontier justice by Lia Faile

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Frontier Justice, Part 4
by Lia Faile

"How are you feeling Bess?"

Bess, hurting, angry and looking for a target, any target, lashed out at Devon. "I don't know, Devon. Take a good look at me and tell me how you think I'm doing."

Devon was taken aback at the flinty tone in Bess' voice. She was the most cheerful of the group and Devon had started to appreciate her ability with both people and Grendlers. True wormed her way between the much taller adults and stood in front of Bess with worried eyes and a quivering lip. "Does it hurt very much?" Bess knelt down and drew True into her arms. "No, not very much." She lied. "You're my hero True. You saved my life. I'll never forget that."

"We're f-friends." She sobbed out and squeezed Bess tightly causing the young woman to flinch in pain. Danziger saw Bess' discomfort and collected his weeping child in his arms and rocked her.

Bess stood up and watched Walman and Baines cart her attacker into the med tent. "What are you going to do about him?"

"I hadn't had time to give it much thought. Danziger called in that he was being brought back with you just a few minutes ago. I guess release him once Julia has treated him. I don't know what else we could do."

"He's a criminal. He attacked me. Tried to rape and kill me. He should be punished." She demanded.

"Punished?" Devon shook her head in confusion. "How? We don't have any prisons here. All we can do is send him on his way."

"And if he refused to go his own way? If he decides to come back? Maybe attacks someone else? What then?" Bess persisted.

"We'll deal with that when and if it happens." Devon was unhappy with the weakness of her answer but couldn't think of a stronger solution. They couldn't worry about what "might" happen. There were too many ifs for them to address every single one. They had to move on and hope each decision was the right or at least the best one.

Bess hugged herself and stared off with an unfocused gaze. "If he were dead, we wouldn't have to worry about him ever again." She whispered softly bringing her eyes back to rest on Devon's stunned face.

Uly, who'd been studying Old Western American culture, excitedly chimed in. "Are we going to hang him? Like in the Wild West?"

Mortified at her son's apparent blood lust, Devon sought to correct him. "Capital punishment is a brutal law long abandoned by civil society, Uly." She directed her statement at Bess as well as her son.

"It's a very ancient law passed down by God. 'An eye for an eye, a life for a life.'"

Recovered from Bess' bombshell, Devon was determined to end this discussion before it got any farther. "Bess, it was inhumane and failed to prove itself as a crime deterrent. That's why the Stations abandoned it."

"It's an effective deterrent on the one who committed the crime. They don't get a second chance to kill again."

"Nor do they get a second chance to redeem themselves, Bess." Yale added in his soft, priestly voice. "Even God did not write off a sinner. No matter how badly or how far they'd strayed."

"Well, let God forgive him and deal with him!" She countered angrily. "*I* can't!"

Devon tried to defuse Bess' anger with reason. "Bess, we don't know the man's circumstances. He's been here alone for a long time. He may not even know where *here* is. It's possible he felt threatened by you. You and True were taking his food supply and winter is coming."

Bess looked incredulously at Devon then she laughed bitterly. "I hate to admit it, but Julia was right. You *are* naive, Devon. I didn't do anything to him. I'm not responsible for what happened to him during his life. I wasn't even born when he was sent here. I have to live my life here. I have rights too. I should be able to walk alone without constantly looking over my shoulder and wondering who might be behind me. I shouldn't have to lie awake at night fearful of strange noises. When I have nightmares about this I should be able to wake up and be relieved that there's no way they could possibly come true. I should be able to send my children outside to play and the worst thing I should have to worry about happening to them is that they scrap their knees."

Bess flung her arm out in an all encompassing gesture. "Come out of your ivory boardroom Devon and take a look around you! This isn't the Stations with its tidy little rules and laws. I know all about men like Jaxsom. They use to get dumped in cheap prisons on Earth. If they happened to escape, the so called law enforcement didn't try too hard to recapture them. A lot of innocent people were hurt or killed by people like him. Including my mother. It took an Earth wide miners strike to finally force your benevolent government to stop that practice and dig into their pockets and build prison stations." Finally out of breath and emotionally drained, Bess leaned against Morgan for both physical and moral support.

"I'm sorry about your mother, Bess." Devon's own mother flashed briefly into her mind. "No one should have to suffer the violent loss of a loved one. But two wrongs don't make a right."

Eben took up her friend's stance. "We need to do something, Devon. None of us are safe with him on the loose." Magus and Denner nodded furiously in agreement.

"Yeah, and just who's going to carry out this execution? I bet you women try and arm twist one of us into doing it. Shooting animals for food is one thing but shooting a human being is more than most of us are willing to do."

"Baines! Why aren't you and Walman with Julia?" Danziger barked.

"It's okay. He's still out and we tied him down real good. Besides, he stunk to high heaven! Phew!" Baines wrinkled his nose and waved his hand in front of his face.

"I'll go stay with her." Alonzo got up and started to limp towards the med tent, a frown on his face.

###
Julia had just finished up treating Jaxsom's fractured skull when he started to come around. At first groans and unintelligible sounds were all he made. Finally his eyes fluttered open. Julia bent over him and was about to reassure him when Jaxsom's flat steel gray eyes locked on hers and the words froze in her throat. She had a sudden insight of what a rabbit must feel when it stares into the eyes of a wolf. A smile that seemed more voracious than friendly spread across Jaxsom's gray stubbled face. "Well now, lookie here. Another pretty bird. What's yer name pretty?"

Julia immediately disliked him but pushed those feelings to the back of her mind. Doctors weren't required to like their patients, just treat them. "I'm Dr. Heller." She answered in her chilliest most no nonsense voice. "How are you feeling?"

"Like someone took the top of my head off." He tried to lift his right hand to his head but they were tied to the cot frame and he could only move them a few inches. "Say, could you loosen this one a bit? It's really biting into my wrist."

Julia hesitated a moment debating if she should call in one of the men first. His hand was puffy and turning red so it wasn't a ploy. Besides, she was only loosening it not untying it. What harm could it do? She began loosening the cord that held his right wrist. Suddenly he gave a great yank and pulled it loose from the cot. True to Bess' description, he was faster than he looked. His loose hand shot out and grabbed her by the hair and flipped her over him to the floor on the other side of the cot. Before she could get up, he came crashing down on top of her.

Jaxsom held her down with the weight of his body with his knee across her throat while he tugged on the cord that held his other wrist. His knee exerted enough pressure to prevent her from crying out but not quite enough to crush her windpipe. No, he didn't want her dead. Not yet. A cat liked to play with a mouse a bit before sinking its teeth into its throat for the last time. Julia flailed about with her hands but couldn't find anything within reach to use as a weapon. Futilely she struck at him but her blows didn't land anyplace vulnerable.

Finally free, Jaxsom grabbed Julia's wrists in one beefy hand and pinned them down above her head. He shifted his weight and removed his knee from her throat. She took several deep gaging breaths to restore her oxygen deprived lungs. Jaxsom's other hand curled around her throat in warning for her not to attempt to cry out. "Where am I?" He hissed at her softly.

Her mouth was so dry from fear it took Julia a moment to reply. "We brought you back to camp. You aren't in any danger here. I treated your injuries." She thought this might calm him down and get him to release her.

His thumb gently stroked back and forth across her bottom lip and he flashed that feral smile at her once more. "That, my pretty will be your last mistake."

His hand tightened around her throat as he slowly lowered his face to hers. Julia couldn't scream now if she wanted to and she so very desperately wanted to. Then she did hear a scream. Though it was more like a roar, and it came from the med tent entrance rather than from her. Jaxsom looked over his shoulder to assess this new challenger. Alonzo's advantage of surprise allowed him to easily knock the much larger man off of Julia. She quickly scrambled to her feet and cried out for help.

Jaxsom had regained his feet and he saw how Alonzo favored his right leg. He struck out with a large booted foot and caught Alonzo's ZED injured leg just above the knee. The weakened muscles couldn't take a blow like that and he crumpled to the ground. White hot pain exploded simultaneously in his leg and his brain. All of Alonzo's energy was focused on not losing consciousness so he was unable to block the blows that rained down on him.

Danziger burst in followed by Walman and Baines. The rest of the group remained outside so they wouldn't hamper the men's movement in the cramped tent. Magus raised her magpro and tried to get a clear shot at Jaxsom. Yale placed a restraining hand on her shoulder. "You might hit one of the others." Nodding, she lowered the gun and watched the melee with worry creased eyes.

Danziger threw all of his weight into a flying tackle and drove Jaxsom to the ground. Anyone else would have stayed down but Jaxsom began to struggle against Danziger. Walman and Baines joined in and added their strength and arms to the job of restraining him. Julia had been scavenging all this time in the rubble that was once her medical supplies looking for a sedaderm. Finding one, she rushed to the pile of struggling men. Making sure she had the right arm first, she pressed the sedaderm to it and squeezed the trigger. Since the shot went in his arm and not directly into his carotid artery, it would take the drug a few moments to kick in. Julia then rushed over to check on Alonzo.

She quickly administered a pain block and then proceeded with a shaky examination of his leg. "Can you move it? Is there any numbness or sensations of cold?"

"No. It just felt like my whole leg was on fire when he hit me. The pain block has take care of that." Alonzo tried to regain his feet but Julia ended up helping him to a chair. He took her trembling hands in his and studied her "How are you doing?"

Julia stopped and tried to think of an honest answer. How was she? She wasn't so sure she knew herself. She'd just been attacked and nearly murdered. Her emotional state was in turmoil and from the shaking in her hands and pounding of her heart, her adrenal glands were still pumping away. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in order to clear her mind and calm her nerves.

When she opened her eyes, she found them suddenly stinging with tears. 'Oh God, don't cry here. Not in front of all these people. It'd be too embarrassing.' Blinking rapidly to flush the revealing tears back down her tear ducts, Julia looked at Alonzo and nodded. "I'll be fine." Alonzo pulled the kneeling woman against his chest and hugged her. "I'm glad you're not hurt." He whispered.

Finally Jaxsom went limp and the men got up. "What the *hell* happened in here?!" Danziger demanded furiously.

"Hey! The guy was tied down tight when we left!" Walman answered defensively. Baines just shrugged while trying to catch his breath.

"Don't blame them." Julia pulled away from Alonzo's comforting embrace and addressed the angry man. "It was my fault. I agreed to loosen his bonds when he complained that they hurt. I figured I could handle him." She ended sheepishly.

"Now do you think he'll just quietly go away?" Bess asked Devon, her eyebrow arched in challenge.

"We'll all be murdered in our sleep!" Morgan added clutching Bess' shoulders.

Devon looked at Danziger besceehingly. 'Oh, sure. *Now* she wants his opinion!' He thought angrily. Well he wasn't about to become the heavy in this decision. He pretended not to notice her looking at him and set about picking up the cot and tables that laid tossed about the tent. He knew he'd threatened to kill Gaal in cold blood but he'd been extremely pissed when he'd made that declaration. Now he wondered if he seriously could look a man in eye and coldly shoot him.

"What's going on?" Julia inquired sensing the heighten tension in the tent.

Cameron spoke up. "We were discussing what to do about him." He pointed unnecessarily at Jaxsom. Julia knew which "him" Cameron meant. "Some are in favor of execution."

"Execution?" Julia looked from Danziger to Devon. Both in turn looked at Bess. "Death is a harsh sentence for assault. Whether he intended to kill or not. Do we even know anything about him?"

END--Frontier Justice part 4 of 7 by Lia Faile

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