Post by Malik Moriga-Tay on May 10, 2014 3:18:25 GMT
The alarms frantic shout brought him rudely back from his snooze.
“Wake up Dran, that beauty sleeps doing you no good at all!” Torst called playfully as he dashed out of view.
The squad room was alive with motion as the rest of his security detail grabbed gear and weapons discarded in the boredom that occupied their watches on this outpost.
Webbing buckled tight he stepped out into the corridor and grabbed at a passing tech.
“What’s going on then, no drill was scheduled for tonight” he enquired.
The techs pale expression and slightly panicked look told him straight away that this was not a drill.
“Single ship just jumped in….Minmatar frigate, Jaguar class, non-standard ship ident, the Kuro-Neko” he stammered before pulling free and running of towards his designated emergency station.
Dran tightened his grip on his rifle. “Single frigate. Its got to be a scout….or a capsuleer.” realisation gripping his insides “not a bloody Egger!”
The shelter was almost full by the time he skidded to a halt past the first set of blast doors. Glancing behind to check for stragglers he pushed the closure button and ducked through the second door into the fortified room beyond. “Seal it up” he called out as the inner portal closed with a heavy metallic jolt.
“Sit tight everyone, this will be over soon” he called out reassuringly to the small crowd inside. “One way or another” he added coldly to himself.
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“What’s happening Dran, who is it?” The question grated in his ears as he stood by the info screen set into the armoured frame of the doorway and watched the battles progress on the display. Two dozen green dots moved towards a single orange point, the small collections of coloured pixels representing hundreds of lives out there in the void
“Shut it with the questions Torst, you’ll spook these people” Keeta’s reprimand quickly silenced the younger man who went back to methodically checking over his kit. She cast a glance over to Reyak before walking up to put a hand on Dran’s shoulder. “The Abraxia and Grattix will deal with this won’t they?” she asked quietly, referring to the two battleships that served as the outposts primary defence
He made no reply as he watched another green dot disappear from the display.
Ten minutes later and the remaining three green dots quickly became two. The little coloured points continued to dance around the orange spot for maybe two minutes or so before they also blinked out of existence.
Dram gripped the displays housing until his knuckles were white “That’s it then, were dead” he whispered to the room. A couple of minutes later and they were plunged into darkness. The momentary blackness was punctuated by a few gasps and a strangled cry was heard before the emergency lighting kicked in , flooding the claustrophobic space of the shelter with a ghastly red hue that matched the mood of the inhabitants.
“Control….control do you copy?” Dran’s questioning voice called for answers over the outposts comms net.
“Control? Fuck!” He checked the display again to confirm what he already knew. Comms were down but basic functionality showed that the there was still atmosphere outside the blast door.
Torst pushed his way forward to stand next to his squad mates and the sealed door. “Why is it on lock down?” he asked. “That’s only supposed to happen if there is a breach outside.”
“We find our own answers” Dran signalled across to the squads oldest member and their engineering specialist .”Reyak, get this door open now. Torst, Keeta, get your game faces on, were going to see what’s up.”
The older man pulled datapad and tool roll from his kit and got to work. A couple of minutes after popping open the control panel and performing his engineering magic the was an audible click.
“Got it” he called out with a sense of satisfaction as the mag locks on the door disengaged, allowing it to open inwards with a pneumatic hiss.
Dran cast around the dozen or so faces that all silently regarded him in the red tinted gloom until his eyes caught on a face he recognised. “You, Jerax right? Your in charge until we get back. Once we clear close that hatch and keep everyone here, try and stay calm and we’ll be back with help once we link back up with control…you got me?”
“I….I yes….I understand.” came the mumbled response from the frightened man.
Emergency lighting did little to dispel the darkness from the corridor beyond as the squad moved out from the safety of the shelters air lock. A quick glance at the control panels for adjoining sections showed that the entire colony had been locked down. Most of the bridging between habitation, production and engineering sections glowed red, indicating loss of atmosphere.
The section they were in showed orange, indicating significant damage taken but that atmosphere was holding for now. “Looks like we are the only section not cut off by decompressions….jobs ours to be the heroes” Dran voiced wearily.
Torst’s naïve question sounded loud in the silent corridor “What’s cut the bridges but left the main sub-structures intact?”
“What do you think? ”Dran replied darkly.
“Why would someone knock out links but not the whole complex” Torst continued.
“Well lets find out. Plan remains the same. Reach control, assess damage and call for support”
Progress was slow, the locked out and vented sections forced a tortuous route through sub corridors and engineering conduits
“Hold up” Keeta called back from her position on point.
She had stopped outside one of the primary pressure doors that marked the transition from the connecting structure to the central hub, or control, of the outpost.
Dran moved up from the rear to see what was up “You got us lost again?” he asked lightly, humour reflected in his smile.
“Funny” she replied curtly in return. “This is the first of the two containment doors between central and our section right?
“Right” he replied. “And?”
“So why is it open?” came the unwelcome question.
Dran knew the answer. “Someone’s been through here.”
“Yeah but who? replied Keeta. “Everyone but us is sealed off in their sections or dead.”
The mood changed quickly as weapons were brought up and readied, grim determination on faces
“We have been boarded” Dran confirmed all their unspoken suspicions.
They moved forward now with practiced precision, two by two covering each movement, checking corners and blind spots at they advanced towards control.
Two more hatches in and Keeta raised a gloved fist that brought them to a stop. “Smell that?” she whispered.
The air held a chemical tang that bit at the back of the nose and clawed at the throat. Pouches were quickly opened and rebreathers donned.
“Poison?” she asked fearfully.
“I doubt it” Dran quickly replied. “Anything strong enough to smell and taste and we would be dead already. Maybe some kind of riot control agent, or crowd suppression gas?”
The door to the control room was open. Faint white light from inside added to the oppressive red tint that their eyes had grown accustomed too.
Keeta moved back towards them and handed the item she had found outside the entrance to Dran. The small metallic object looked innocent in his gloved hand, but he recognised it as the pin from a low tech grenade.
Replacing Keeta on point he moved forward to the control room door at a crouch and froze as he heard a snippet of conversation from inside.
“….and how was I to know it would be so awkward….well next time pay more attention…and now I’ve got oil on my leg…well that’s just great….”
Dran dared a quick glance into the room and then pulled back to order what he had seen.
Control room personnel were all down on the floor near their stations. No obvious signs of a fight. There was a portable inspection lamp sitting on top op a desk with a weapon next to it. Someone was working under a console on the far side of the room, obscured by the central display.
He smiled to himself. “Sloppy” he though “time for a little payback”. Hand signals brought the rest of his squad to the threshold. He quickly signed what he had seen, indicating one, maybe two hostiles. Ingress would be simple, Keeta and Torst to go in and circle left, Reyak would circle right….he’d go right down the middle.
On his second step into the control room the world exploded into a thousand multi-faceted images at once. As he keeled over in shock he vaguely heard a shouted exclamation followed by a burst of automatic gun fire and a flash of green and red as their quarry bolted out the opposite door.
As Torst pushed past in pursuit he grabbed at his harness to slow him down. “Wait” he croaked.”WAIT!” The shout brought Torst to a stop.
Reyak knelt by his side and held something shiny up in his hand as Dran shook his head to dislodge the retinal blurs that ghosted his sight.
“Multi spectral grenade, proximity detonator….lucky it wasn’t a frag” Reyak said in his ‘matter of fact’ tone.
Dran got back to his feet as the last of the green tinted flashes danced across his vision.
“Keeta….find where their ship is docked. Reyak, carefully clear this room…no more little surprises ok? And Torst, cover the far door that they ran through and keep your head back.”
“There alive” Keeta said as she straightened up from checking the vitals of one of the command personnel who lay unconscious in a pool of his own vomit.
Dran walked over to the puddle of light cast by the intruders lamp. It illuminated a data pad on the floor next to an open access port gaining entrance to the insides of one of the rooms data cores. He carefully picked the pad up and grunted his annoyance on finding it locked and encrypted.
“That looks expensive”. Reyak commented as Dran hefted the discarded weapon. The sub-machine gun left abandoned in a hurry was lighter than he expected. The grip was small in his gloved hand, the pale grey alloy of its snub barrel reflecting little light. The strap matched the material wrapping the grip, a soft green mottled synthetic of some kind. A pair of ceramic animal charms dangled brightly from the trigger guard. Ejecting the magazine he noted its complement of grey coloured spiral grooved rounds was complete.
He slipped the data pad into a pocket and slung the intruders compact weapon across his chest
“Found them” Keeta called out. “There is an emergency docking hatch active two levels over….wait….yes, I can lock down the stations collar release from here….they wont be going anywhere. Airlocks sealed too….if they are not already onboard they will have to override from outside…..slow and tricky.”
Adjusting his kit Dran looked around at each member of his team. “Ok then, lets get nasty.”
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The docking hatch was located down a single 3m wide corridor branching off from the hub and blocked at its far end by a sealed pressure door that currently opened onto hard vacuum.
A quick glance revealed the outer airlock door to be open, a light inside was responsible for the squat shadow projected out into the corridor. A voice, slightly muffled could be heard coming from inside.
They advanced down towards the hatch, sticking close to the metal walls as they went. 5m from the hatch he could make out words. “A women’s voice?” Dran though?
“I did the best I could, they should not have even been here…”
Three metres from the entrance, Reyak on point, his assault shotgun held loosely in his hands, the ideal tool for the job. On his shoulder came Torst as support, followed by Dran. A little further back up the corridor Keeta crouched by the junction, rifle raised in cover should there be any movement.
“….I know there is not much more I could do,” the women’s voice continued.
Dran raised his hand. "On three ok?" he signalled.
One
“…if only they knew the difference”
Two
“between fleeing and leading….”
Three!
Reyak swung around the airlocks lip ready to eviscerate its occupant, only to be confronted by an empty space. An inspection light on the floor illuminated a childs teddy bear wearing a comms headset….the apparent source of the voice.
Picking it up he removed the headset and turned to cast a quizzical expression at Torst who loitered in the doorway.
“but then they’re not too bright”
The explosion hurled Torst backwards away from the hatch to impact with a sickeningly wet crunch against the wall, the lip of the doorway saving him from the instant death Reyak suffered as the stuffed toy in his hands detonated with calculated lethality.
The pressure wave threw Dran back hard as it rolled up the confined corridor before dissipating.
As he pushed himself to his hands and knees he thought he heard a warning shout from Keeta a split second before a boot caught him squarely under the chin and threw him back again, his vision clearing in time to see the boots sole as it stamped down on his face.
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The blackness turned to grey and then, as it formed into red it brought the pain along with it for company. He tasted blood and, probing forward with his tongue he registered two or three smashed teeth. The dull ache accompanying that movement suggested a broken jaw as well. Cold metal pressed into the side of his face but as he tried to stand his arms seemed frozen behind his back. He smelt smoke, burning electrical cabling and the unmistakable stench of burnt meat. Only one of his eyes seemed to work, the other swollen shut. Peering out he could see the prone form of Keeta on the floor next to him, her eyes closed in a deathly pale face.
“Don’t worry, I don’t think we hit her too hard”
His ears could just register that voice again over the ringing, the same one from before.
A pair of brown heeled boots appeared in front of his face as their owner bent down to ensure she was heard.
“I’m sorry for your friend, I really am. But I promise it was quick.
The words frothed bloodily as he gasped them out “Torst….Keeta?”
The boots turned and then moved away before returning, the hand in front of his face now held a knife.
“She should be fine providing she wakes up….the other one…I used a lot of the chems your medic was carrying….he wont be in any pain.” The tone of the voice providing all the answer he needed.
The blade left his view and hands seemed to be pulling at him. A clatter indicated she had dropped the knife as the tugging pulled the submachine gun free from his webbing. “I’ll be needing this back though, it was a present and she will be mad if I lose it the first time out….plus she gets amorous when she's cross and I dont need that right now" She cradled the weapon in her arms for a moment, fingers tracing across its scratched surface, pausing to play with the hanging charms. "And I never even got to test it properly” she pouted. "Lucky for you."
A second sense of movement and the data pad was pulled free from his pocket before disappearing into the intruders oddly tailored red tailed coat.
“All done, time we were going” the voice sounded cheerfully.
“Why?” was all he could heave out in question.
The boots returned and where replaced with an unexpected view as the intruder knelt down and brought a pretty face level with his. A mop of auburn hair, a freckled nose, white cheek markings and a quizzical expression held in pale blue eyes.
“Because.” The face answered. “Because an agent contracted and a capsuleer accepted. Because there are demons with pretty faces in the dark. Because the universe is uncaring and so are we. Because I was bored. Because there is no such thing as justice. Because it thrills her to kill”
She paused for a second, as if considering her next line.
“But today I will be mercy.” A gloved hand pulled the datapad back out and made some quick motions over its surface. “Because some out there still care for the lost. I’ve just contacted the Sisters…if your young friend survives you will know he owes his life to a monster with a wicked smile.”
She grinned at him as he started to lose consciousness. “You just met a capsuleer and survived….hold onto that thought as it marks you out from the very many others I’ve set on the next path. Hold this moment as you’ll never see it, or me, again.”
“Wake up Dran, that beauty sleeps doing you no good at all!” Torst called playfully as he dashed out of view.
The squad room was alive with motion as the rest of his security detail grabbed gear and weapons discarded in the boredom that occupied their watches on this outpost.
Webbing buckled tight he stepped out into the corridor and grabbed at a passing tech.
“What’s going on then, no drill was scheduled for tonight” he enquired.
The techs pale expression and slightly panicked look told him straight away that this was not a drill.
“Single ship just jumped in….Minmatar frigate, Jaguar class, non-standard ship ident, the Kuro-Neko” he stammered before pulling free and running of towards his designated emergency station.
Dran tightened his grip on his rifle. “Single frigate. Its got to be a scout….or a capsuleer.” realisation gripping his insides “not a bloody Egger!”
The shelter was almost full by the time he skidded to a halt past the first set of blast doors. Glancing behind to check for stragglers he pushed the closure button and ducked through the second door into the fortified room beyond. “Seal it up” he called out as the inner portal closed with a heavy metallic jolt.
“Sit tight everyone, this will be over soon” he called out reassuringly to the small crowd inside. “One way or another” he added coldly to himself.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“What’s happening Dran, who is it?” The question grated in his ears as he stood by the info screen set into the armoured frame of the doorway and watched the battles progress on the display. Two dozen green dots moved towards a single orange point, the small collections of coloured pixels representing hundreds of lives out there in the void
“Shut it with the questions Torst, you’ll spook these people” Keeta’s reprimand quickly silenced the younger man who went back to methodically checking over his kit. She cast a glance over to Reyak before walking up to put a hand on Dran’s shoulder. “The Abraxia and Grattix will deal with this won’t they?” she asked quietly, referring to the two battleships that served as the outposts primary defence
He made no reply as he watched another green dot disappear from the display.
Ten minutes later and the remaining three green dots quickly became two. The little coloured points continued to dance around the orange spot for maybe two minutes or so before they also blinked out of existence.
Dram gripped the displays housing until his knuckles were white “That’s it then, were dead” he whispered to the room. A couple of minutes later and they were plunged into darkness. The momentary blackness was punctuated by a few gasps and a strangled cry was heard before the emergency lighting kicked in , flooding the claustrophobic space of the shelter with a ghastly red hue that matched the mood of the inhabitants.
“Control….control do you copy?” Dran’s questioning voice called for answers over the outposts comms net.
“Control? Fuck!” He checked the display again to confirm what he already knew. Comms were down but basic functionality showed that the there was still atmosphere outside the blast door.
Torst pushed his way forward to stand next to his squad mates and the sealed door. “Why is it on lock down?” he asked. “That’s only supposed to happen if there is a breach outside.”
“We find our own answers” Dran signalled across to the squads oldest member and their engineering specialist .”Reyak, get this door open now. Torst, Keeta, get your game faces on, were going to see what’s up.”
The older man pulled datapad and tool roll from his kit and got to work. A couple of minutes after popping open the control panel and performing his engineering magic the was an audible click.
“Got it” he called out with a sense of satisfaction as the mag locks on the door disengaged, allowing it to open inwards with a pneumatic hiss.
Dran cast around the dozen or so faces that all silently regarded him in the red tinted gloom until his eyes caught on a face he recognised. “You, Jerax right? Your in charge until we get back. Once we clear close that hatch and keep everyone here, try and stay calm and we’ll be back with help once we link back up with control…you got me?”
“I….I yes….I understand.” came the mumbled response from the frightened man.
Emergency lighting did little to dispel the darkness from the corridor beyond as the squad moved out from the safety of the shelters air lock. A quick glance at the control panels for adjoining sections showed that the entire colony had been locked down. Most of the bridging between habitation, production and engineering sections glowed red, indicating loss of atmosphere.
The section they were in showed orange, indicating significant damage taken but that atmosphere was holding for now. “Looks like we are the only section not cut off by decompressions….jobs ours to be the heroes” Dran voiced wearily.
Torst’s naïve question sounded loud in the silent corridor “What’s cut the bridges but left the main sub-structures intact?”
“What do you think? ”Dran replied darkly.
“Why would someone knock out links but not the whole complex” Torst continued.
“Well lets find out. Plan remains the same. Reach control, assess damage and call for support”
Progress was slow, the locked out and vented sections forced a tortuous route through sub corridors and engineering conduits
“Hold up” Keeta called back from her position on point.
She had stopped outside one of the primary pressure doors that marked the transition from the connecting structure to the central hub, or control, of the outpost.
Dran moved up from the rear to see what was up “You got us lost again?” he asked lightly, humour reflected in his smile.
“Funny” she replied curtly in return. “This is the first of the two containment doors between central and our section right?
“Right” he replied. “And?”
“So why is it open?” came the unwelcome question.
Dran knew the answer. “Someone’s been through here.”
“Yeah but who? replied Keeta. “Everyone but us is sealed off in their sections or dead.”
The mood changed quickly as weapons were brought up and readied, grim determination on faces
“We have been boarded” Dran confirmed all their unspoken suspicions.
They moved forward now with practiced precision, two by two covering each movement, checking corners and blind spots at they advanced towards control.
Two more hatches in and Keeta raised a gloved fist that brought them to a stop. “Smell that?” she whispered.
The air held a chemical tang that bit at the back of the nose and clawed at the throat. Pouches were quickly opened and rebreathers donned.
“Poison?” she asked fearfully.
“I doubt it” Dran quickly replied. “Anything strong enough to smell and taste and we would be dead already. Maybe some kind of riot control agent, or crowd suppression gas?”
The door to the control room was open. Faint white light from inside added to the oppressive red tint that their eyes had grown accustomed too.
Keeta moved back towards them and handed the item she had found outside the entrance to Dran. The small metallic object looked innocent in his gloved hand, but he recognised it as the pin from a low tech grenade.
Replacing Keeta on point he moved forward to the control room door at a crouch and froze as he heard a snippet of conversation from inside.
“….and how was I to know it would be so awkward….well next time pay more attention…and now I’ve got oil on my leg…well that’s just great….”
Dran dared a quick glance into the room and then pulled back to order what he had seen.
Control room personnel were all down on the floor near their stations. No obvious signs of a fight. There was a portable inspection lamp sitting on top op a desk with a weapon next to it. Someone was working under a console on the far side of the room, obscured by the central display.
He smiled to himself. “Sloppy” he though “time for a little payback”. Hand signals brought the rest of his squad to the threshold. He quickly signed what he had seen, indicating one, maybe two hostiles. Ingress would be simple, Keeta and Torst to go in and circle left, Reyak would circle right….he’d go right down the middle.
On his second step into the control room the world exploded into a thousand multi-faceted images at once. As he keeled over in shock he vaguely heard a shouted exclamation followed by a burst of automatic gun fire and a flash of green and red as their quarry bolted out the opposite door.
As Torst pushed past in pursuit he grabbed at his harness to slow him down. “Wait” he croaked.”WAIT!” The shout brought Torst to a stop.
Reyak knelt by his side and held something shiny up in his hand as Dran shook his head to dislodge the retinal blurs that ghosted his sight.
“Multi spectral grenade, proximity detonator….lucky it wasn’t a frag” Reyak said in his ‘matter of fact’ tone.
Dran got back to his feet as the last of the green tinted flashes danced across his vision.
“Keeta….find where their ship is docked. Reyak, carefully clear this room…no more little surprises ok? And Torst, cover the far door that they ran through and keep your head back.”
“There alive” Keeta said as she straightened up from checking the vitals of one of the command personnel who lay unconscious in a pool of his own vomit.
Dran walked over to the puddle of light cast by the intruders lamp. It illuminated a data pad on the floor next to an open access port gaining entrance to the insides of one of the rooms data cores. He carefully picked the pad up and grunted his annoyance on finding it locked and encrypted.
“That looks expensive”. Reyak commented as Dran hefted the discarded weapon. The sub-machine gun left abandoned in a hurry was lighter than he expected. The grip was small in his gloved hand, the pale grey alloy of its snub barrel reflecting little light. The strap matched the material wrapping the grip, a soft green mottled synthetic of some kind. A pair of ceramic animal charms dangled brightly from the trigger guard. Ejecting the magazine he noted its complement of grey coloured spiral grooved rounds was complete.
He slipped the data pad into a pocket and slung the intruders compact weapon across his chest
“Found them” Keeta called out. “There is an emergency docking hatch active two levels over….wait….yes, I can lock down the stations collar release from here….they wont be going anywhere. Airlocks sealed too….if they are not already onboard they will have to override from outside…..slow and tricky.”
Adjusting his kit Dran looked around at each member of his team. “Ok then, lets get nasty.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The docking hatch was located down a single 3m wide corridor branching off from the hub and blocked at its far end by a sealed pressure door that currently opened onto hard vacuum.
A quick glance revealed the outer airlock door to be open, a light inside was responsible for the squat shadow projected out into the corridor. A voice, slightly muffled could be heard coming from inside.
They advanced down towards the hatch, sticking close to the metal walls as they went. 5m from the hatch he could make out words. “A women’s voice?” Dran though?
“I did the best I could, they should not have even been here…”
Three metres from the entrance, Reyak on point, his assault shotgun held loosely in his hands, the ideal tool for the job. On his shoulder came Torst as support, followed by Dran. A little further back up the corridor Keeta crouched by the junction, rifle raised in cover should there be any movement.
“….I know there is not much more I could do,” the women’s voice continued.
Dran raised his hand. "On three ok?" he signalled.
One
“…if only they knew the difference”
Two
“between fleeing and leading….”
Three!
Reyak swung around the airlocks lip ready to eviscerate its occupant, only to be confronted by an empty space. An inspection light on the floor illuminated a childs teddy bear wearing a comms headset….the apparent source of the voice.
Picking it up he removed the headset and turned to cast a quizzical expression at Torst who loitered in the doorway.
“but then they’re not too bright”
The explosion hurled Torst backwards away from the hatch to impact with a sickeningly wet crunch against the wall, the lip of the doorway saving him from the instant death Reyak suffered as the stuffed toy in his hands detonated with calculated lethality.
The pressure wave threw Dran back hard as it rolled up the confined corridor before dissipating.
As he pushed himself to his hands and knees he thought he heard a warning shout from Keeta a split second before a boot caught him squarely under the chin and threw him back again, his vision clearing in time to see the boots sole as it stamped down on his face.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The blackness turned to grey and then, as it formed into red it brought the pain along with it for company. He tasted blood and, probing forward with his tongue he registered two or three smashed teeth. The dull ache accompanying that movement suggested a broken jaw as well. Cold metal pressed into the side of his face but as he tried to stand his arms seemed frozen behind his back. He smelt smoke, burning electrical cabling and the unmistakable stench of burnt meat. Only one of his eyes seemed to work, the other swollen shut. Peering out he could see the prone form of Keeta on the floor next to him, her eyes closed in a deathly pale face.
“Don’t worry, I don’t think we hit her too hard”
His ears could just register that voice again over the ringing, the same one from before.
A pair of brown heeled boots appeared in front of his face as their owner bent down to ensure she was heard.
“I’m sorry for your friend, I really am. But I promise it was quick.
The words frothed bloodily as he gasped them out “Torst….Keeta?”
The boots turned and then moved away before returning, the hand in front of his face now held a knife.
“She should be fine providing she wakes up….the other one…I used a lot of the chems your medic was carrying….he wont be in any pain.” The tone of the voice providing all the answer he needed.
The blade left his view and hands seemed to be pulling at him. A clatter indicated she had dropped the knife as the tugging pulled the submachine gun free from his webbing. “I’ll be needing this back though, it was a present and she will be mad if I lose it the first time out….plus she gets amorous when she's cross and I dont need that right now" She cradled the weapon in her arms for a moment, fingers tracing across its scratched surface, pausing to play with the hanging charms. "And I never even got to test it properly” she pouted. "Lucky for you."
A second sense of movement and the data pad was pulled free from his pocket before disappearing into the intruders oddly tailored red tailed coat.
“All done, time we were going” the voice sounded cheerfully.
“Why?” was all he could heave out in question.
The boots returned and where replaced with an unexpected view as the intruder knelt down and brought a pretty face level with his. A mop of auburn hair, a freckled nose, white cheek markings and a quizzical expression held in pale blue eyes.
“Because.” The face answered. “Because an agent contracted and a capsuleer accepted. Because there are demons with pretty faces in the dark. Because the universe is uncaring and so are we. Because I was bored. Because there is no such thing as justice. Because it thrills her to kill”
She paused for a second, as if considering her next line.
“But today I will be mercy.” A gloved hand pulled the datapad back out and made some quick motions over its surface. “Because some out there still care for the lost. I’ve just contacted the Sisters…if your young friend survives you will know he owes his life to a monster with a wicked smile.”
She grinned at him as he started to lose consciousness. “You just met a capsuleer and survived….hold onto that thought as it marks you out from the very many others I’ve set on the next path. Hold this moment as you’ll never see it, or me, again.”
