Out of the Frying Pan...
14 Dec 2023Miseri
"There is a calm in the darkness, and in that darkness is a burning flame as black as the void, picture this flame in your mind."- from the Ancilla: Meditations and Rites
There was darkness. And as she sank into it the absolute stillness and silence washed over her. For a few brief moments of eternity she remembered nothing about the last few months, days or hours. She could stay here and.. relax..
Then the sound came, at first distant but everywhere at once, coming from every direction.
get up
She just wanted to rest. Why was she so tired, she had been running... why had she been running again..
GET UP YOU IDIOT
Thats right... she had been running away from Mr behind the mask and his friends... to someone else? Who?
It didnt matter? why didnt it matter... because... because...
BECAUSE THEY WERE GOING TO KILL YOU, YOU STUPID COW!
The engine cuts off.
Memory began to solidify as the stillness of the void recedes.
The trial.. her confession.. the uninvited guests. She had not thought only acted in the moment. It didnt matter who they were because the alternative was certainly a much shorter life expectancy, and so she had fled with her would be rescuers.
Had they even been there for her? It did not matter, even if they were also going to kill her too at least it would buy her a little more time.
THAT TIME IS ALMOST UP! MOVE BEFORE YOU DIE GIRL!!!
As the memories flooded back into place her eyes open and reality snaps back into place, her breath foggy against the recognizable standard Remlok suit helmet. At first the only sound she was aware of was the slow heavy breathing in her own suit. She runs her hands gently over her surroundings while she turns her head to the side to get her bearings. The steady buzzing of an alarm begins to drill its way into her ears.
WARNING: TEMPERATURE CRITICAL
For Anri it was if something had snapped into place in her head... A clarity of thought, a rapid acceleration of mental acuity and an near instantaneous assessment of the situation came to bear in her mind. Her eyes darted rapidly.
"PIlot. Dead. Gunshot wound to neck evident from the in droplets around the body" , her eyes moved to the cockpit canopy. "Canopy damaged. Not yet breeched but close." Next she gently pushed with her leg and felt herself floating weightless, then she felt the severe sharp pain of her own wound.
Another flash of the chaos that had taken place shoved its way back to her conscious mind, of running from an SRV to a waiting ship and the feeling of the hot plasma as it burned thru her suit and sent her tumbling into the awaiting DBX.
She reached back and sighed, it was bad but not fatal, although it was most certainly fired by someone who had intent to kill. Perhaps the poor pilot had also been so unfortunate as to catch a stray shot at that time, they had not been so lucky. However they had managed to set the ship on its course to another star before expiring from their wounds. Instinctively she pulled herself across the floor over to the controls, with the pilot dead they had smacked right onto the exclusion zone of the star upon exiting witchspace. She spun the ship around and set course away from the star, before reaching down and grasping the small green box that held the standard emergency First Aid kit that every ship should have.
A tube of BIO-MED gel, application gun and clear sealant gauze, the exact kind of medical dressing for patching the wounds one might recieve in the numerous hazards of working in space or in her case patching up the wound from the plasma round on her lower back. Wound patched she turned her attention back to the controls, heat had stopped rising but the ship was still going to fry if she didnt move it into Super cruise, she checked the Nav panel to see where the now deceased pilot had flown them only to start laughing at the irony of it all.
MBOONI
A few test fires later and the Frameshift drive hammers to life and as the resplendent feeling of super cruise surrounds the ship, Anri reaches down and patches into the comms system, hoping that her intended recipient will answer quickly.
She does and never had Anri been so happy to hear the stern grandmotherly voice on the line.
"Vayda Carver speaking ... who is this?
Through clenched teeth she answered "Ms. Carver, I need your help"
"Miss Anri, Are you finally back from your vacation," Vayda's tone was what for her would could be called playful but was cut short,
"I was not on any sort of Va-cay-tion", Anri spat each syllable of the word out, " Monsieur No Name and his friends wanted to take me out."
"Oh thats cute, Do you think maybe he's sweet on you?", there was obvious mirth in her voice as she spoke, between the pain of her wound and the torture from Ms. Carver she wasn't sure which was more painful, but the old woman's voice still reassured her, at least she wasnt alone.
"Mon dieu, non Vayda I am talking about take me out, to be unalived, once living, morte , I have apparently played my hand too well and now my little game is up , Ms. Carver I ... I am sorry I am not a good person, I am a lying, scheming manipulative piece of shit and I have been lying to EVERYONE "
She could almost picture Vayda's slow nodding of her head as she made her reply, "mmhmm, Yes'm Miss but I knew that you were a Corpo type when I hired on with you, I mean I come from Harma aint exactly like I haven't been part of a front company operation before, I take it were gonna need to get out of the bubble til the heat dies down."
"Your instincts are good Ms. Carver, im just about to set down a few K-M outside of Prospect's Deep. Dont land at the pad I dont want to... one moment Vayda", the drop from cruise into glide came with a bang cutting the connection for a few seconds, but it was only a few seconds long enough for Anri to see three pitch black ships with their lights on already waiting for where her own trajectory would take her.
She thinks about trying to pull back up, go back to orbit, get away... Then the Anaconda behind her reveals itself.
The comms picks back up in the middle of a conversation that Vayda is obviously having with herself,
"You know I had always thought you making up that rumor about being Salvations illegitimate daughter really was a little bit genius, I mean guys dead whats he gonna say about it"
Anri is frozen. Staring at all the chances for escape slowly disappear. She slowly starts to descend to the surface.
there was a tense moment of silence. then her voice in a low murmur...
"That part was not entirely untrue..., Vayda gives a small hint of shock in her voice, "Ohh is that right MIss well you are full of surprises aren't you"
"Change of plans Ms Carver, You are not to come get me until I call for you. Do you understand?"
The hint of shock is now one of concern, Vayda speaks in a slow tone, Miss, Are you in Danger?! Do you really want me to wait for you here?"
Anri swallows as she lowers the landing gear and feels the ships set down.
She speaks in a slow and even tone not for clarity but because of the intense sensation of terror gripping her at this moment.
"Yes Thank you Ms Carver, I am in a large amount of danger right now, I want you to take The Daughter and go to Canopus until i call you. Thats a request and an order please, And If i dont call you , please know its been a delight working with you Ma'am
The older woman doesnt speak for a few moments, then lets out a sigh,
"Aye, its been nice working with you too Miss Anri, Ill move the carrier like you asked, I want you to know that working with you has made me a very rich woman and... you're not so bad yourself, try not to die kiddo."
Anri couldnt help but give a small laugh thru the terror she felt, "you know technically im older then you right"
The two women both laughed nervously together. Good luck miss.
The other ships had arrived.
"Thank you for everything Vayda." , she cut the line.
The tense moments of silence felt like forever to her as the other ships slowly drifted into position around her.
A singular booming voice split the stillness of her cockpit.
THANK YOU NOW PLEASE CUT THE ENGINE AND EXIT SLOWLY
THEY WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK WITH YOU MISS LAROSA