#010 - "The Alpha & The Omega" Pt.I
Chapter 1: Trial by Fire
Anna and I enter a large, deserted hallway. Everything is a pure shade of white, and spotlessly clean. This must be an employee only access tunnel, because apart from some glass-walled conference rooms, it’s completely devoid of décor.
The hall is long and wide, with several branching smaller hallways. At the end of it stands a hulking steel door, which looks like it was made to withstand a nuke.
Honestly, considering what’s going to happen to B-Wing soon, seeing it makes me feel relieved. That must be the access point through the bulkhead. That said, it does make me wonder how they planned to seal off the area between the central hub and B-Wing. Is that why the walkway had a plain metal roof instead of a fake sky? Is it like an airbag? As soon as it detects an impact, a door shoots up from the floor, sealing off the section? That would explain the seams I saw in the floor…
That seems like a massive safety hazard though. Considering the risk of rapid decompression in the event the hull is breached, that door would have to launch up pretty damn fast. Anyone standing on top of it would get crushed in an instant. Considering Hellman’s plan for this place, he probably prioritized aesthetic over function.
We walk through the hall, while I look through the glass walls of the various conference rooms and empty offices. All of the faux leather chairs look like they’ve never actually been used. There’s no wear on them at all. All of these rooms must be for when this place becomes a tourist destination.
Eventually we hit the large bulkhead door, and Anna strides over to the access panel. An electronic eye begins emitting beams of light, and a yellow hologram keyboard appears before her. She types away at it, presumably entering an access code. Oddly enough, despite being a hologram, the keyboard seems to have both haptic and auditory feedback. I can hear the simulated clacking sounds of a keyboard, and the reverberations of touch key vibrations. I’m not sure how you make a hologram vibrate, but I can clearly hear it.
Anna steps back from the keyboard and a series of powerful clunking noises resound from the door, top to bottom. The door separates, pausing for a brief moment, and begins to open with a shearing, grinding sound. I can finally see just how insanely thick this door is, and I hope I’m right when I say it seems to be extreme overkill.
Behind the door is another hallway, similar to the design of the one we just passed through with one stark contrast. The wall on the lefthand side has a long, illuminated lava lamp stretching from one end of the hall to the other. Like a fish tank, but instead of being filled with water, it’s filled with clear liquid and glowing orange wax.
We step through the massive, airlock door and Anna walks over to access panel, closing it behind us. She’s still being reservedly quiet, speaking only when necessary.
The aura Anna has been emitting has somehow gotten even darker, and I’m genuinely scared for her wellbeing at this point. She has become ice cold inside. For whatever reason – I can just tell. Maybe that’s one of the unique abilities she talked about that comes with Therianthropic Symbiosis? Or rather should I say Symbiotic Synthesis? Despite only knowing Anna for a short time, I feel like I’ve known her my whole life. It’s an… Odd sensation.
This hall is deserted as the first. Everyone really must be over in the Fortune District, because this entire side of the station feels dead. Its vibe akin to a dying mall devoid of shoppers.
“Before we get started, I’m going to show you the ship’s hangar. Since I won’t be there to show you the way when everything begins, I think it’s best that you know where you’re going.”
“Shouldn’t Ionna know where it is?”
“Yes, it’s only a short distance from the Export Box afterall. But I’ll feel better knowing you know what you’re doing.”
As the massive airlock door grinds shut behind me, Anna turns to me, her eyes are frigid.
“Anna… Are you sure you’re going to be alright?”
“Yes Master, I’ll be fine. Please just leave everything to me.”
Although she says that, it does nothing to reassure me. She said that so monotoned and deadpan I can’t help but feel even more uneasy now.
Anna and I make our way down the hall, passing by several more glass-walled conference rooms and offices. While the overall style of the rooms is the same as the last hall, the layout is a bit different. The branching halls are wider, the offices larger. One of the glass-walled rooms opens into a seemingly unused cafeteria. The shutters at the counters are closed, the lights dimmed, and the chairs are all stacked on top of the tables.
I quietly look at Anna, who’s walking ahead of me at a solid, brisk pace. Anna and I definitely have to have some sort of connection, right? Because I can tell something inside her has changed, even without looking at her face. All I can sense from her is… Bloodlust.
I had already resolved myself to us having to kill our way out of here. I know we’ll have to get our hands dirty. But this level of rage and vitriol is not normal by any standard.
Underneath all of this hatred is… Pain.
Endless pain.
Watching her suffer like this hurts in a way I can only describe as surreal. I can FEEL its intensity, and all of her underlying emotions behind this rage she’s exuding. There’s seething hatred, endless anguish, an abyssal lament, anxiety, and oddly enough a tinge of ecstatic anticipation.
Is this all in my head?
I feel like I’m going crazy.
□■□
We exit through the doors into A-Wing, walk down a short hallway, and find a crossroads. The design of A-Wing is near identical to that of the previous hall. It’s virtually all white, and extremely clean. The floor reminds me of polished porcelain tile, which is actually so spotless, I can see up Anna’s skirt in the reflection.
Yeah, they’re probably going to need to do something about that if they’re going to make this into the guest entrance.
The crossroads is a tall circular room. At its center, there’s a massive cylindrical lava lamp stretching up to the second floor, filled with clear liquid and what I can only assume to be millions upon millions of tiny gold-leaf flakes. The walls between the four-pathways hold lava lamp tanks embedded into the walls, which all hold the same orange wax from before.
Apart from that, A-Wing seems to be rather plain. I am honestly surprised by Hellman’s lack of décor.
But frankly, while genuinely kind of cool, these lava lamps also pose a massive safety hazard. A-Wing is the area most likely to suffer an enemy invasion right? So what happens if one of these tanks bursts open during a gunfight?? You’d get submerged in a tidal wave of scalding hot liquid and wax.
Or wait… Is that why they have these!? I know during ancient times, castles would pour boiling hot oil off of their ramparts and onto besieging armies. Is this just a modern incarnation of that strategy??
I’m going to try not to think about it.
Such as the fact that these floors are basically the perfect material if you needed to easily scrape hardened wax off of them.
Or the fact that these lava lamp tanks are placed at a strategic bottleneck.
Or the fact that the second floor seems to have sealed windows which would be perfect to shoot down from in the event of an invasion.
Fuck, I can’t not think about it.
Well… Given the value of this VIP they’re about to exchange, I doubt they’d indiscriminately dump thousands of gallons worth of scalding hot liquid down the halls, and risk killing their 15,000,000,000 dracan asset just to kill us. They’d sooner let us escape only to try and capture us later than do anything that risks killing them by mistake.
Which means they’d probably make for an incredibly useful meatshield if I end up getting cornered.
Something to keep in mind I suppose.
We head right at the crossroads, and enter a lengthy hallway. A-Wing is extremely well lit, having both wall lights and dense amounts of luminescent vapor. I still don’t know what this vapor is, or how it can remain contained in one spot like that. I’ve seen it form neat little rings around the top edges of a room like in the supply closet, and thick sheets which encompass the entire ceiling like in A and B-Wing. It’s oddly beautiful when it’s this dense - Looking similar to a Asperitas cloud formation.
Like the access tunnel, A-Wing is also deserted, though I can hear a few scant voices upstairs. A-Wing has a lot of branching halls and unmarked doors. Well, the doors are at least numbered, but that means nothing to me.
We pass by what looks to be a small, one track train platform which is enclosed behind sliding-glass doors. I say train, but in reality it’s more like a subway platform. The tunnel section is dark, and the train itself is nowhere to be found.
“While B-Wing is the largest section in the station, A-Wing has the largest amount of continuous distance one needs to walk since it streches around 1/3rd of the station’s outer edge. So there’s a small transport system to ferry people and luggage to and from their ships. A-Wing also has two platforms for the full-sized train you saw in the Fortune District. One is located on the opposite end of A-Wing, and is used primarily for cargo and supplies. The other is behind us, located further back. That one is the primary train service for getting around the station.”
Ah, that makes sense. Given the sheer size of this place, even 1/3rd of its circumference is massive. You’d be walking for 45-minutes before getting anywhere, maybe longer.
But wait, if they have a subway system for crew and passengers, along with train stations which run directly to the Fortune District, won’t that mean their response time is going to be rapid??
Sensing my concerns, Anna preemptively elucidates, “Don’t worry, the trains will not be a problem.”
“W-why do you say that?”
Anna gives a small arrogant smirk, “Because the station’s central computer has them registered as secondary power processes in its code – Not a primary one.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m saying that in the event of a loss of power, this section’s computer will switch over to auxiliary solar power, and prioritize life support systems over the trains.”
Loss of power? What does she mean?
Ahhh, now I see. It’s just like I thought – This station uses a centralized core for its primary source of power, most likely nuclear of some kind. Since Anna just confirmed that this station only uses solar sourced energy as supplementary power, that must mean there’s an electrical grid running from A-Wing, through B-Wing, and either into or through C-Wing, leading directly to the station’s main power core. So when those bombs go off, that electrical grid is going to get totalled, and primary power in this section is going to get cutoff. We’re basically slicing an oversized extension cable in half.
No wonder she seems so arrogant, frankly her thoroughness is frightening. I don’t like that, yet again, she has kept something from me. She did it with the IED, she did it with the bombs, and now she’s done it with this. For someone who swears they’ll “Serve me forever”, I sure as Hell don’t feel like she’s serving me. More like I’m being dragged along blindly by a leash.
But how does Anna know what’s written in this station’s source code? Shouldn't that be locked behind some heavy duty administrative privileges?
I’m somewhat tech savvy, at least when it came to the technology back home, and even I hesitate to mess with a computer’s source code, or bootloader. Hell, for years now I've really wanted to replace the OS in my phone with one that values privacy, and doesn’t constantly skim my data. But since screwing around with your bootloader when you don’t fully understand what you’re doing can turn your $1,000+ phone into a worthless brick, I’ve always hesitated to seriously pursue it.
Ignorantly messing with a space station’s source code, which both regulates the oxygen you need to survive, and contains a running nuclear reactor sounds like the perfect recipe for disaster.
She must have heard it directly from Hellman at some point, or even more likely: One of this station’s IT crew she’s “serviced”.
We hit the end of the hall, taking a left down a somewhat shorter hallway, and turn right onto a long suspended promenade which has a breathtaking panoramic view of space.
The walkway itself is made of metal grates which are L-bracketed into the wall on the right. Above me, below me, and to the left of me is just all glass (or something akin to it), and I’m at a complete loss for words.
I can’t help but stop and bask in the beauty of it all. The sun's rays shine brightly through the windows as I can see a million different little stars streching endlessly into the distance.
“So – How is it?”
“Incredible.”
Anna sets the cases down, walks up to railing, and leans her forearms against it - As I take in the view, mouth agape.
“Nobody ever comes here since there’s a slightly shorter route. But I wanted to show you this spot before we go. Me and Lior would come here whenever we wanted someplace quiet to talk.”
“Was coming here really for me? Or was this just another stop down memory lane?”
Anna gives a small resigned smile.
“A bit of both I suppose. I guess you could say that I’m closing one chapter of my life, and that I’m still processing the fact that there might be a new chapter that comes after that.”
I look at Anna’s face, her expression is stern, her eyes focused like a hawk as she stares out into the vast emptiness of space – But there’s a softness behind it all.
“I’ll do my best to take care of you Anna.”
Anna gives a small nod, “I know Master, I trust you. But right now… I just want to focus on ending this current chapter right. Otherwise I’ll never be able to move forward.”
“…Just don’t throw your life away.”
She backs off from the railing, picking the cases up off the floor.
“I don’t plan to – Now come on, we’ve got to keep moving.”
“Yeah, right behind you."
□■□
The scenic glass promenade continued on for a short while, gently curving around the outer edge of the station. I had thought that, while beautiful, this tunnel was probably a massive structural weakness. But I noticed several manual emergency shutter release levers on the wall on our way through, along with emergency bulkhead doors at the exit. So like the bulkhead between the Central Hub and B-Wing, I’m guessing all of this is also automatic, and the manual release levers are there for the sake of additional redundancy.
Eventually we make our way through the exit into a small corridor, take a left, and then an immediate right, finding ourselves in a wide hallway with five unmarked white metal doors on either side.
This hallway seems to branch off of a longer hallway at the end. There are some electronic displays on the wall opposite to us, but all they’re displaying is vaguely warm background lighting.
I get A-Wing is taking a utilitarian approach with its design and operation, but I can't help but feel somewhat disappointed in Hellman for his lack of décor here. Considering everything I’ve seen from the man so far, I expected a vain grand entrance hall, complete with chandeliers and a golden statue of himself pointing triumphanly towards the stars and into the future.
I didn’t expect a pure white liminal space full of endless hallways and unmarked doors.
Maybe the displays are meant to be an accent wall of some kind? But if so, why display nothing but slightly warm background lighting? Maybe they’re going to be used for ads, or station maps, or departure times – Now that I think about it, that definitely sounds plausible.
“We’re here.”
Anna points to the third door on our left.
“That’s Export Box.”
That’s the Export Box?? It’s literally just another random door! I expected something more… Prison like? I suppose that makes sense though. If this is supposed to become a resort, the Export Box is probably just a small holding cell meant for troublemaking tourists, and maybe the occasional criminal who sneaks in. All it needs to do is temporarily house the perpetrator until DRAC authorities can arrive to haul them off to a real jail.
I never would have found this place without Anna – 100%. This place feels like an absolute maze. Me meeting her was like an act of divine intervention.
“The door across from it is a supply closet which we’ll be using to load the Shedders. First I’m going to show you the ship.” Anna whispers to me.
I nod, “Got it. Right behind you.”
We head to the end of the hallway where it T’s off. To my left there’s a pair of thick sturdy steel doors nestled in an alcove a short distance away, with a branching hallway to the right of it. To my right at the intersection, the hallway streches on for a long distance. On the lefthand side there’s a few rooms with tinted glass, a set of modern floating style stairs, and another accent display wall on the right. Beyond that, it’s thoroughly uninteresting – Albiet excessively clean.
While downstairs feels like an absolute no man’s land, upstairs however I can hear the faint sounds of men laughing. It’s barely audible, but I can see Anna’s ears twitching about and changing directions.
Fuck – I was really hoping we could get by without this turning into an absolute shitshow. I know that was wishful thinking, especially considering the value of this VIP. Still, it could certainly be worse.
“Forty-seven.” Mumbles Anna.
“Huh?”
“It’s nothing. Master, when we split up, I’ll be going up those stairs, you’ll be going through those doors.” She says, pointing to the double doors to our left.
“G-got it.”
I’m going to be honest – Up until now, I’ve kind of been dissociating from the reality of the situation. It’s been my method of preventing me from having a complete mental breakdown, or another debilitating panic attack. But after hearing those voices upstairs, while standing right before the finish line, and knowing what I’ll have to do to cross it – Everything just hit me all at once. Saying that I’m stressed at this point is an understatement. I can feel my heart beat racing a thousand miles a minute, and my hands and legs are shaking. I’m about 10 minutes away from either living to see another day, or lying face down in a pool of my own blood, with my body torn to shreds.
“Please believe me Master, everything is going to be okay.”
“Y-yeah. Let’s just get this over with before I have another panic attack.” I say with a pained voice.
Be a machine Max, be a machine.
We walk over to the steel doors, Anna touches the control panel off to the side, and they slide into the walls with a hiss. We enter into a spacious hangar, with tan painted metal walls, a cavelike ceiling, and smooth, shiny grey floors.
That’s when I see it – Our ship.
My first impression?
「Yup that’s definitely military.」
My second impression?
「B-Big!」
How do I even describe it?
It looks like if the XB-70 Valkyrie had a baby with an SR-71 Blackbird.
We’re currently staring at its port side, slightly near the nose. It’s got to be at least 220 meters long (722ft aprox.) and apart from some ash grey pinstriping, is completely charcoal black.
Like the Valkyrie, its “neck” juts out from the top of its “body” and cranes out, creating a long fuselage which stretches out in front into a pointed nose. The wings sit towards the rear, which sweep back at a slight downward angle, and then curve back up at the tips.
I am in no way an expert on spacecraft, but even I can tell the streamlined shape of this ship was most definitely intentional. From the nose to the tips of the wings, the way the “spine” of the neck gently curves, perfectly flows with how the wings are angled down and then up, creating a seamless, almost lighting bolt type shape. It embodies the perception of speed – Even if it’s sitting still.
The rear has two twin vertical stabilizers, or tails, which are longer than they are tall. The way they gradually flow upwards in height matches the angle in which the front of the wings are tilted down against the body. Not only that, but like the SR-71, the neck flattens out at the edges, albiet far less prominently than the Blackbird, which too flawlessly meet up with the slats of the wings.
I don’t need to know anything about spacecraft to know that this thing is fast.
But I now understand why the bounty for this ship, and most likely the VIP as well, is so high. The fact that my immediately knee-jerk reaction was to compare it to the XB-70 Valkyrie says all I need to know.
The Valkyrie was one of the United States’ most infamous wasteful military projects. The idea was to create a supersonic nuclear bomber, which could travel so fast it couldn’t be intercepted, dropping a nuclear payload on its designated target before the Soviets (or anybody else) could mobilize and respond.
The project was started in the mid-50s, but didn’t bear fruit until the mid-60s. By the time two functional prototypes were completed, the whole concept was obsolete. The advent, adoption, and advancement in ICBM technology made the whole project functionally and strategically worthless. In the end, the US wasted the equivalent of about $2.75 billion dollars on the project, and to make matters worse – One of the prototypes was completely destroyed in a midair collision during a test flight. You could say that one accidental collision cost U.S. taxpayers $1.375 billion dollars. Government spending at its finest folks.
Granted by today’s standards, wasting $2.75 billion dollars on a military project that won’t go anywhere is comparably nothing. They’ll waste that amount of money nowadays without batting an eye. But the Valkyrie was one of the first real collosal military projects that ended up a complete waste. Or at least, it was one of the first real recognized military projects that ended up pointlessly burning through money.
Well… Maybe it wasn’t a complete waste. It definitely improved humanity’s understanding of supersonic travel. That, along with the Concorde. The Valkyrie was designed to carry tens of thousands of pounds worth of munitions while traveling several times past the speed of sound. That is extremely impressive. To this day, it still holds the record for fastest bomber ever created. That’s certainly more than a lot of modern military projects can say.
This ship is probably part of a top secret development program, or is a technology they don’t want falling into foreign hands. Splitting the bounty between the VIP and the ship covers up the wasteful spending they’re likely doing behind the scenes.
Some things never change.
While the ship is being supported by its landing gear and wheels, massive steel arms are extending from the hangar walls, holding the ship in place. The arms have what look like giant black hockey pucks stuck to the hull of the ship. Those must be the maglocks. Magnetic locks – Now I get it. I never really questioned what a maglock was until now, but that makes sense. The maglocks have what look to be a squishy orange seal between the hull of the ship, and the hockey puck. Probably to protect the hull from getting damaged whenever the maglock latches on. It also probably lets it conform to whatever shape hull the ship might have. Otherwise everything would need to be built to order.
There’s also a massive airlock door blocking the ship’s exit from the hangar. Anna will also need to open that up before we can leave.
Wait.
Won’t we already need to be INSIDE the ship when those doors open? Otherwise I’ll get sucked out into space!
“Hey Anna, those airlock doors – Do they have some way of keeping the atmosphere inside once they’re open?”
“Huh? Oh yeah, there’s a plasma barrier outside. We just keep them closed for the sake of radiation safety.”
“Uhhhh-”
“Really, there’s nothing to worry about. The plasma barrier redirects the vast majority of gamma rays away. You could stand in here all day and be just fine. We just keep these closed primarily for the people who are regularly working on the docks. A few minutes exposed to it won’t hurt you at all.”
“Ah alright. I’m assuming you’re going to take care of those too?”
“Yes – All of the hangar controls are in Traffic Command.”
I nod and look back up at the winged black beast towering before us.
Now that I think about it, why does this ship even have wings to begin with? There’s no air in space, therefore there’s no lift. Wings are a completely unnecessary addition. Is it like the space shuttle? Where it can exit and re-enter a planet’s atmosphere, and then act like a supersonic, or even hypersonic jet when inside a planet’s gravity?
That must be it.
“While there are several entrances to the ship, the ways available to you are either the main cargo ramp, or the airlock located on the starboard side of the ship’s fuselage.”
Anna points to the flat, forward facing angled area on the belly of the ship, along with a set of stairs on the far end of the room. The stairs lead up to a metal gangway which circles around the room.
“Personally I recommend taking the walkway up top. It will lead you closest to the ship’s helm, and offer a defensive position overlooking the hangar. But the Shredders aren’t meant to shoot that far, so your accuracy is going to suffer because of it. But the nose of the ship can act as cover for you as well. The main cargo ramp, while closest, is probably going to be slow to open and close. Not to mention you’ll need to go through the ship to get to the helm.”
“In that case I’ll take the stairs. Are we certain the door won’t be locked when we get up there?”
“If it is, the VIP should know how to open it. Hellman was told in no uncertain terms not to alter, scan, or record the ship in any way. So I’m certain he hasn’t changed the access codes, or done anything that will prevent us from leaving apart from the maglocks and airlock doors.”
That basically confirms my suspicions then. If he was told to not so much as record the ship, DRAC Gov. is definitely treating this ship like a top secret military project.
“Trial by fire – You ready?” Anna asks, looking up at me with sheer force of will in her eyes.
I take a deep breath, and exhale slowly.
“Yeah… Ready as I’ll ever be.”
□■□
We enter the supply closet, which is more or less identical to the one I first found myself in – Minus the serial killer-esc flickering lights.
Anna closes the door behind us, and we set the cases and my bag on a nearby workbench. She takes the Shredders out one by one, and begins loading them with the homemade splinter bars. She opens up a hatch right above the handgrip, and pushes the bars in.
Apparently you load these exactly like you would a glue gun. Except instead of disappearing into the gun because of heat, I can hear something akin to the muffled sounds of a hand-held electric pencil sharpener.
“Okay, let me show you how these work, because they’re a little different from a normal gun.”
She holds the gun up as I get in closer.
“This is the safety and mode select.” She says pointing to a lever on the side.
“There’s safe, semi-automatic, burst-fire, and full-auto. So far that’s pretty standard fare. I strongly encourage you stay on full-auto, as there’s really no reason not to. But do you see this here?” She asks, pointing towards a grey section of the handgrip.
“This is your spread control. The tighter you squeeze, the more focused your spread is going to be. Be advised that the more focused your fire, the more recoil you’re going to have. If you find a spread you feel comfortable with, you can lock it in with this button on the side.” She says squeezing the grey part of the grip halfway in, and locking it with the button.
So it’s like a spray gun attachment for a garden hose. Except instead of changing the amount of water that comes out, it’s more like it’s tightening the nozzle itself.
I nod, “Alright, simple – Got it.”
Anna turns to me, she has fire in her eyes.
“So here’s the plan: Bradley should be the only guard in the room. We are going to be pretending we’re dropping the Shredders off, let me do all the talking. According to that mercenary we ran into in the Therianthrope District, apparently Bradley is friends with Tony – Or at the very least, they talk. You’ll definitely need to sell yourself as Tony, but try and keep chit-chat to a minimum. I will take care of the guard, and we’ll use his hand to open the Export Box. After opening the door, immediately override Ionna’s ownership. You absolutely cannot hesitate, or else you’ll be putting both you and her in danger. Remember, although she won’t want to hurt you, she won’t be able to resist her CS. Act before it has the chance to kick in. Afterwards, order her to help you, give Ionna a Shredder, and the VIP your pistol, and make your way to the ship. After the maglocks disengage, wait five minutes for me. If I’m not back by then, leave me behind.”
“You know I can’t do that Anna.”
“Master, while I appreciate your concern for me, my first priority is your safety. Everything else is secondary.”
I am deeply uncomfortable with the idea of leaving her behind. She’s done so much for me, and at this point I want to see her getting the happy life she’s always deserved.
“We’ll see what happens.”
I give a non-committal response, to which Anna looks down and scoffs.
“One thing - Why do I need to pretend to be Tony? Why don’t we just immediately shoot the guard? Even if he’s an advanced cyborg, this all seems unnecessarily convoluted and risky. There’s no one on the first floor, we could just walk across the hall, open the door up, blast his head off, and then carry out the plan. Also, where does the bomb factor into all this?”
Anna falls silent, her eyes drift listlessly in thought.
“…Please Master, just let me handle this… I… I need to do this.”
I can tell there’s significant weight behind her request.
This place has been killing Anna for years. Inside, I can feel her rage burning at full flame. But I also sense a genuine sense of joy and excitement?... Does her hatred for these people run this deep?
“Okay, we’ll do it your way. But remember, I want a full explanation after this is all done.”
She looks up and gives me a nod.
Anna begins taking off her heels and frilly thigh high stockings, stuffing them into my bag.
“I won’t be able to run with heels on, do you mind holding onto them for a bit?”
“No problem, you want to use my tennis shoes?”
“I doubt they’d fit.” She says with a half chuckle.
She zips up the bag, handing it back to me.
“Okay, let’s get started.” Anna says with a devilish grin.
□■□
“Knock knock! I’m here for your 2 o’clock!” Anna announces with a jubilant smile.
“2 o’clock? It isn’t…?” Bradley says, turning from his computer. “Ah, Anna. My appointment with you isn’t until next week. Also, it’s passed 2.”
“I know, I was just kidding. Hellman ordered us to bring some Shredders for the exchange. ‘Just in case’ he said.”
“Ah, makes sense. Just leave them on the desk over there. Did you requisition the ammo?”
“No, he said he’s sending someone else for that. Hey mister Tony, please make sure Clyde did his job this time and inspect them before we leave.”
“Yeah…” I say in a sick, raspy voice.
I enter into the pure white room. There’s a door on the other side of the room, and a large window showing into the cell. I can see two women huddled up on the floor in the corner. One is obviously Ionna. Her long blue, parted bangs are covering up her black eye, which has since swollen shut, and she’s crying into her knees - Poor girl.
I never got a good look at her before, but now that I see her up close, I realize she is super cute. The way her bangs cover up and hide one of her eyes is kind of adorable. The eye that isn’t swollen shut is an unnaturally potent turqoise color. Ionna has very long pure blue hair with just the slightest hint of green to it, which transitions to electric cyan at the tips. Her fox ears are drooping and her cyan tipped tail is wrapped tightly around her side.
Don’t worry Ionna, we’re going to get you out of here.
The other is a relatively taller woman with long, frazzled blonde hair.
Her emerald eyes look sleepy, with intense bags under them reminding me of a panda. She’s wearing a wrinkled lab coat which is hanging loosely off her shoulders, a thin form fitting spaghetti strap tanktop which is showing off an excessive amount of cleavage (and other “distinct outlines”), shabby black tennis shoes, and olive green cargo pants.
This must be our VIP. She’s not exactly… What I imagined.
While I get that she’s probably been through a lot, she doesn’t have a scratch on her. Understandable given she’s worth 15,000,000,000 dracan. So her disheveled appearance is not a result of her treatment, more so she probably just doesn’t care.
She would be quite a looker if she bothered to clean herself up.
Despite wearing a lab coat, she does NOT look like somebody who’s qualified to be wearing one in any sense. Apart from her natural physical attractiveness, she looks like somebody you’d see living underneath a bridge in San Francisco.
Okay, maybe not that bad.
She’s not *dirty* - Just unkempt.
If she got some sleep, got her hair done, changed up her wardrobe, and maybe put a little makeup on, she could be an 8, maybe even a 9.
But my theory that the DRAC split up the bounty between her and the ship to hide government overspending is looking more and more likely.
“Damn Tony, you sound like shit.”
“So everyone keeps telling me.”
I pretend to laugh, and transition to hacking my lungs out. That should keep him from trying to talk to me.
“You need to quit that smoking man.”
I shrug my shoulders as if to say “Yeah, whatever.”
Bradley is jacked. He’s built like a roided out bodybuilder. Is that because of his cybernetics? Or is that really just all muscle?? I begin taking each of the Shredders out, preemptively turning the safeties off for each one.
“By the way Anna, where are your shoes?”
“Ah, I broke a heel, and ended up tumbling down some stairs.” She says with a fake hint of embarrassment.
Her ability to act is genuinely unnerving. Then again, I’m not one to talk.
Bradley scoffs and turns back to his computer, while Anna walks over to the Shredders, which are now lined up side by side on the desk.
Facing away from Bradley, she grabs a Shredder in her right hand, as she pulls the detonator out from between her breasts with the other. She looks down at the gun and detonator in her hands, a dark expression clouds over her face.
“Say… Bradley… Do you remember a therian by the name of Lior?...”
“Nope, can’t say I do. There are over a thousand therianthropes on this station, I can’t remember each one.” He says, barely sparing a disinterested glance.
“You remember me though?...”
He scoffs, “Everybody knows you Anna.”
Anna grits her teeth in a pure, seething rage, glaring at the weapon in her hands.
“She was beaten to death by a mercenary during one of their appointments several years ago.” She says, barely retaining her composure, her voice trembling in anger.
Bradley pauses, and looks over at Anna, this time his gaze is focused.
Sensing the tension in the room, I nonchalantly grip the Shredder closest to me. This must be the guy who…
“When they found her, both her arms and legs were broken, several of her internal organs were ruptured, and her broken ribs had punctured her lungs. I still remember what her mangled body looked like as they unceremoniously launched her body out of the airlock, along with that day’s trash.”
Tears of pure fury stream down her cheeks.
Bradley, sensing the hostility in Anna’s voice, stands up – Towering over even me.
“…What is this?”
“—I know what you did.”
Anna squeezes the detonator, and a violent rumble erupts beneath my feet. The lights cut out, as the entire room shifts, causing me to fall on my ass and slide towards the wall.
Blue flashes and the intense sound of gunfire flashes throughout the room, until the room goes completely black.
“GRAHHHHHHH!!!!!, M-MY LEGS!!! W-WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?!?!”
The walls and luminescent vapor slowly light up the room. The walls have changed from white to a purple magenta, and the floor and ceiling have changed to a bright reddish pink. The vapor slowly flashing in and out.
“W-what just happened??”
I look over at Anna, who’s standing over Bradley, grinning ear to ear with crazed eyes.
Bradley’s legs are in tatters, and barely hanging on by a few loose tendons.
“Y-YOU THINK Y-YOU’RE GOING TO G-GET AWAY WITH THIS YOU BITCH!?!?”
“Tell me Bradley, did Lior beg for her life when you beat her to death?”
She lifts up the Shredder, aiming for his left bicep.
“Wait, no, STOP PLEA-!!!”
Not waiting for him to beg, she blows his left arm completely off, and chucks it to me. I catch the meaty slab in my arms in a dimmed confusion.
“FRAHHHHHHH!!!!!”
At this point Bradley is crying tears of pure anguish.
“Go on, do what you got to do.”
“Huh? Uh, yeah.”
My brain isn’t working right now. When did this turn into a horror movie?
I put the Shredder down, and fumble around in my pockets, shaking the entire time. I finally manage to find the pocket knife Anna gave me earlier and slice my left hand open with it.
I try slapping Bradley’s hand against the panel next to the Export Box door, but it keeps saying “Rejected”. That’s when I notice the outline for the scanner is for the right hand, not the left.
Uhhh.
“Oh silly me!” Anna says with a tone of pure ecstasy. “You need the right hand don’t you?”
“P-please wait, I’M SOR-!!!” Bradley begs, but to no avail.
Anna takes aim, and blasts his right arm completely off, silver glitter ricochets off the floor. She picks up the shredded arm, and hucks it to me like a hunk of garbage.
Bradley is screaming cracked wails of agony. Terror and pain consumes his face.
This level of cruelty is…
I take back what I said – I am absolutely terrified of Anna. This is horrific.
I stuff the pocket knife back in my pocket, and slap Bradley’s hand against the panel. The words “Approved” flash across the screen, and the door descends into the floor.
I rush into the Export Box, Ionna and the VIP are huddled in the corner in pure terror. I chuck the arm to the floor, and race over to Ionna.
“No!!! Get away from me!!! SOMEBODY HELP!!!”
She cowers in fear as I lunge my bloodied hand towards her neck. She grabs hold of my ring finger and pinky as I try to force my hand to the back of her neck.
And then-
*CRACK*
“GAH FUCK!!!”
A sharp pain shoots from my fingers and up my arm. Instinctively I try and pull back, but she has my fingers trapped in the vice grip of death. Each tug is excruciating. Jesus Christ she’s strong!!!
I sloppily smack my right hand against my left, and smear my blood across her neck. Finally she lets go as her whole body goes limp.
I glance down at my hand and both my fingers are clearly broken – Bent completely sideways at a 40° angle. I’ve never broken anything before, but it looks so repugnant I don’t even want to look at it. I was just in time, as she was already lunging for my right hand. Had she grabbed it before I could get to her neck, my other hand would probably look the same.
“Did Edward send you?” The VIP warily asks.
“Huh? No – But I am here to get you out of here.”
Her brow furrows in suspicion, “Why? What’s in it for you?”
“I just need your ship so I can get out of here myself, nothing more.”
Satisfied with my straightforward response, she nods, “Ah, that makes sense. I assume you have a plan?”
“Of course, can you use a gun?” I ask, handing her my pistol.
“More or less.” She says, accepting my pistol.
Good, she seems to understand the urgency of the situation. She isn’t trying to ask me 40 questions before we can get going.
“You got a name?”
“Call me Liz – You?”
Liz? Why... Why does that sound familiar?...
A staticky image of a small, blonde haired girl in a purple summer dress flashes through my mind.
I can’t make out her face, but… It feels… Familiar…
Just then Ionna’s fox ears twitch, as she suddenly jolts awake.
“Huh? Wait – Did you just...?”
“Yes, my name is Max and I am your owner now. I order you to help us escape. Keep us safe.”
Ionna looks back and forth from me to Liz in utter confusion, before I eventually just yank her to her feet. I don’t have time to answer your innevitable slew of questions.
We exit the Export Box, I pick up my Shredder, and thrust one at the utterly lost Ionna.
Anna is still standing over Bradley with a sadistic grin.
“I heard you yell, are you okay?” Anna asks, not breaking sight with the suffering Bradley.
“Ionna broke my two of my fingers, but I’ll live.” I say, showing her my now wrecked fingers.
She looks over at my broken fingers, her cold expression briefly flashes into a face of genuine concern, before returning her gaze upon Bradley, this time with a guilty expression.
“I’m sorry Master, I just…” Her guilty expression wavers before flipping back to a stern one, “No - We’ll get that fixed up after this.”
“M-master?...” Bradley groans.
Anna lifts her gun at Bradley.
“This is goodbye Bradley. But before we part, I want you to know something – I was the one who convinced Hellman to reassign you to the Export Box.”
Wait… What?
She’s the reason why he’s here? Why??
I had concluded that she was already planning to come and retrieve the splinter bars and Shredders herself tonight. That much I had already figured out.
Prior to meeting me her CS was active, thus she was unable to directly harm Hellman or any other mercenary. I figured that, as a workaround for her CS, she was planning to kill Hellman with the IED she made, and then go on a killing spree with the Shredders once her CS was deactivated.
But if that was the plan, why would she convince Hellman to reassign Bradley on the literal opposite end of the station?? Bradley should be number 1 or number 2 on Anna’s shit list if he is responsible for savagely beating her best friend to death.
If I was her, I would try to make sure he was at that party in the Auroria. Not put as much distance between me and my target as possible. Maybe she had just done it prior so she wouldn’t have to be near the person who killed Lior? No from what that mercenary in Therianthrope District said, it sounded like his reassignment was a recent event. By then, she should have already been aware of the party, and the gathering of all of HMC’s top leadership.
I think back to our encounter with that mercenary in the Therianthrope District. The way she froze up when he asked where Bradley was…
She said that she couldn’t afford to risk them switching out the guard in the Export Box, and that’s why she froze up.
Did… Did she really bring me here!? It doesn’t make any sense otherwise! There’s no way she could have known I’d appear unless she orchestrated all of this!
She promised to explain everything to me once this is all over, and I fully intend to thoroughly interrogate her once we’re home free. For now, I have no choice but to put my faith in her. She hasn’t let me down so far, and we’re passed the point of no return.
Bradley grits his teeth in a helpless display of rage, mustering the last of his strength.
“YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A WORTHLESS PILE OF FUCKMEAT AND THAT’S ALL YOU’LL EVER BE!!!!”
Anna gives a cold, vicious smile.
“You’re wrong Bradley…”
Anna takes aim at Bradley’s stomach.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega.”
She unloads directly into his abdomen, mulching his internal organs, and painting the room in bits of Bradley. All three of us watch on in indescribable horror at this abject act of unparalleled cruelty.
Bradley’s anguished screams pierce deep within my skull. I am NEVER going to be able to forget this moment for as long as I live.
By the end, Bradley is barely alive, gasping for air and coughing up blood. His stomach is a twisted, mangled mess of meat and metal.
No amount of medical treatment can save him at this point.
Anna walks over to me, grabs me by my armor, pulling me down. She pulls up my mask up to my nose, and shoves her tongue deep within my mouth.
“Mhmm!?!”
She is violating my mouth with a skill level I can only describe as legendary.
Eventually, she pulls her tongue out.
“For good luck!” She says with a cheery smile. “This is where we must part, but I’ll be back!”
She grabs the other Shredder and races out the door. After a short moment, I can hear a flurry of gunfire echoing down the halls.
Wow she can run fast. Like Olympic 100 meter dash level fast.
I look at Ionna and Liz, as if to ask “What the fuck just happened?”
Ionna is traumatized and damn near in tears – I feel you Ionna.
Liz seems noticably more wary of us. Considering everything she’s seen from us thus far, I don’t blame her. She probably thinks she’s been rescued by two psychopaths with a gore fetish.
Speaking of gore: I look upon the dying Bradley, whom Anna intentionally left alive. His body is destroyed beyond all repair, but the injuries Anna left on him will take time to claim him. I consider for a moment whether or not I should put him out of his misery. But when I imagine this piece of shit beating Anna to death, and leaving her mangled body to slowly expire, only to be tossed out with the garbage – I don’t feel a shred of pity.
Fuck him.
I exit out of the room with Liz and the very distraught Ionna following close in toe, passing by a mountain of bodies in front of the stairwell. As we are about to enter the door to the hangar, I hear running down the stairs behind us. I turn and point my gun in the direction of the stairs, and a man, in a frenzied panic trips and falls off the stairs.
“D-Demon!” he shouts as he desperately tries to pick himself up.
His leg looks to be injured. Before I can pull the trigger, the man’s body gets blasted apart into a plastered fatty detritus from behind.
Jesus Christ Anna! That guy was trying to run! He wasn’t a threat anymore!
Yeah – I know.
I have no room to talk because I was about half a second away from shooting him myself. But still…
That wasn’t pacifying an enemy.
That was a straight up execution.
…She’s nothing if not thorough.
But seriously, dear God these weapons are heinous.
They’re like human woodchippers.
The MG-42 might have been known as the “Buzzsaw”, but it ain’t got shit on the RIA Maelstrom.
It has more than earned its nickname: “The Shredder.”
If this monstrosity existed back home, I’m pretty sure the UN would have unanimously voted to ban it in wartime as a weapon of mass destruction.
Actually no – I’m certain of it.
It actually fits the criteria used during the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons in Geneva. The Shredder causes both excessive injury and undoe harm to nearby bystanders because of its risk of ricochet.
Even if you somehow managed to survive an attack by a Shredder without looking like you just hopped out of a meat grinder, the surgery you’d need would be extensive. The fragments it flays you with are tiny, and it’s rate of fire is probably on par with a minigun. You’d need to spend weeks on an operating table just to get them all out. You wouldn’t even be able to get an MRI done without turning into a human frag grenade.
Yes, the Shredder is a truly cruel and inhumane weapon. But… I also cannot deny its unrivaled efficacy. Anna certainly did her research when she chose these...
We run into the hangar, and towards the stairs. Right before we reach them however, two men enter through a door on the opposite side. I recognize them. One of them was the mercenary who was kicking Ionna in the stomach when I first arrived here. The other is still wielding his maroon red M60 looking light machine gun.
We simultaneously raise our guns and take aim. But before either of us can take a shot, a blue blur flies past me. Both of us pause in surprise, and within an instant, Ionna was already in striking range of the man.
The man’s shock and fear were clear on his face, as he shifts targets from me to her. She swoops in, grabbing his forearm with her right hand, and forcing her left arm and Shredder underneath his bicep.
Using the man’s own shoulder as support, fires the Shredder directly into the other man’s face – Turning it into an unrecognizable pile of ground beef.
Then, in one swift display of brute force, she crushes down on his arm, using his bicep as a fulcrum point, to completely break his arm into a downward right angle.
He screeches throes of unimaginable pain, as his legs give out. Using this opportunity, Ionna rests her foot on the side of his upper calve, forcing it down – Shattering his leg into a backwards “L”.
Therians are terrifying.
The man falls, and begins spasming on the ground. He must be going into shock. Ionna kicks his LMG up off the floor, catching it with her right hand.
It takes us a moment to catch up to her, but when we reach her, she passes the LMG off to Liz.
“So uh… You didn’t strike me as the type to do something like that.”
Ionna gives an uncomfortable expression.
“I don’t like hurting or killing people, but I didn’t have a choice. When I sensed you were in danger, my body moved on its own…”
Ionna looks like she feels incredibly guilty for what she just did.
I gently place my hand on her shoulder to try and comfort her.
“Ionna, I understand how you feel, but these were bad men that were going to hurt us – You saved our lives.”
“Yes but… Wait – You know my name?” Ionna asks.
“Anna told me about you, but we can talk about all that later. Right now, we need to get the ship ready. How long do you think it’ll take?” I ask, turning my attention to Liz.
“Normal take-off procedures will take but a minute or so, but I can’t do anything with the blast doors sealed, and maglocks engaged.” Liz explains.
“I figured, that’s what Anna is taking care of right now. After she’s done, we need to wait for her to get back.”
“That’s risky you know. The longer we wait, the more likely it’ll be for reinforcements to arrive. That, or they might re-seal the doors. I know this might sound cold, but she’s just a normal Therian, it might be smarter for us to just leave her behind.”
Ionna and I’s brow furrow in unison.
“I said we’re waiting, and that’s final. We’re saving your life here, the least you can do is wait a little while for her to get back.”
Liz sighs and then nods, “Yeah alright, but if this blows up in our faces, don’t say I didn’t warn you. You know what'll happen if we get captured here…”
Nope, I actually don’t know, and I’m not going to ask.
We make our way up the metal, grate-like stairs. While I’m not a claustrophobic person (until the Tunnel of Unknown Horrors that is), I do not like heights. It causes my fingers, palms, and feet to physically hurt. I’m not sure why. It could be stress cramps, or maybe it’s all just in my head. But it feels like I have tiny needles in my hands and feet. I have heard some people with a fear of heights get a similar reaction. But to my knowledge, this sensation has no medical terminology.
My point being? This gangway is deceptively high up. The way it flexes and clunks when we run on it is enough to make my toes curl.
The rear of the ship really reminds me of the rear profile of a certain very rare split-windowed car from 1963. At least the general shape between the twin vertical stabilizers does. How the ship’s main “neck”, or fuselage, gracefully ends in the center, right before the outer edge. How the outer edge slightly points out to match. All of it vividly reminds me of that car’s rear design, minus the window. Underneath the subtly pointed edge of the rear are eight massive thrusters built seamlessly into the body of the craft like rear diffusers on a car.
I’m not sure if eight trusters on a spaceship this size is a lot, but from my completely uneducated perspective – It seems like a lot.
Whoever designed this ship definitely knew what they were doing when it came to combining functional design and aesthetic design.
Honestly it looks sick as Hell.
“So, uh… Are… Are you really my Master now?” Ionna asks in a timid voice.
“Apparently!”
“B-But how!? How is that even possible??”
“I am also curious about that. She’s clearly following your orders, but overwriting a slave’s registered owner like that shouldn’t be possible.” Liz inquisitively adds.
“I don’t understand it either. Something to do with me not having a central neural implant allows my blood to override a therian’s registered owner.”
“You don’t have a CNI!?!” Exclaims Liz with a tone of shock and disbelief, “How are you still breathing oxygen!?”
“It’s… A long story…” I say with an awkward chuckle.
Liz gazes down in deep contemplation.
“Even if that’s true… That shouldn’t…?” She mumbles quietly to herself.
“P-Please take care of me…” Ionna mummors shyly to me, her anxiety clear as day.
I turn to her and give an uncertain smile, “I’ll definitely do my best. At the very least, I promise I’ll treat you better than these guys did.”
She averts her gaze as she gives a small, shy smile.
Stop, you’re too adorable.
We finally reach the entrance to the fuselage of the ship.
“Liz, hand me the LMG. I’ll watch the doors.”
“Okay? But why not have Ionna watch the stairs? That seems inefficient.” She says with a curious look, passing me the LMG.
“Because…” I say, turning my attention to Ionna.
“I order you to keep her from launching the ship without us.” I declare, as I pass her my Shredder.
Ionna gives a nervous nod.
“Hey! I said I’d wait right!?”
“Call it additional insurance.”
Liz looks slightly perturbed before exhaling in resignation.
She really might have left without us.
Ionna and Liz enter the ship as I take up a defensive position just past the ship’s nose, overlooking the door we just entered through while keeping an eye on my left flank.
Please hurry Anna…
