Whispers Of The Tempest - 5
21 Jul 2023Silvia Sharpe
Part 4 - here
Grenshaw breaks through the tops of the clouds about 19km above the planetary surface. His ship is severely damaged and smoke trails from exposed components. His fleet of 6 ships readies themselves for anyone who would be bold enough to follow him through the storm below. Grenshaw responds to the display in an angered and bitter tone.
'Stand the fuck down! They wont be following!'
He slams his fist into his console and lets out a growl as he boosts past the ambush party. His anger is replaced by a level of fear as he approaches the Queen Annes Revenge. Diaz was anything but understanding when it came to failure, but Grenshaw hoped that his reputation with Diaz would buy his a level of forgiveness. The mangled and severely battle damaged Mamba passes by the bridge and Diaz gets a solid view of the damage sustained, a snarl grows on his face.
Grenshaw manages to land Neptune's Curse with no further damage being sustained. The ship is immediately pulled into the ship hangar and Grenshaw makes his way out in to check over the extent of his ships damage. He walks around thanking his lucky stars as he sees just how close he was to becoming a dying star, noticing a very well placed impact near his ships fuel cell. As Grenshaw reaches the rear of his ship Diaz enters the hangar and approaches, his aura and presence is terrifying.
'Nick... What the hell happened out there?!'
'She had a..... friend.... I barely made it out of there alive.'
There is a sense of panic in Grenshaw's voice as he finishes speaking to Diaz. Diaz hardly ever used his first name when they spoke but to his surprise Diaz places a hand on Grenshaw's shoulder and in a calm and very collected voice replies to Grenshaw in an attempt to calm his nerves.
'I thought you were a mad man wanting to wait it out in that storm but the bait has been placed. I am glad you made it back in one piece. You are the only person left in this crew that I can trust.'
Diaz pauses for a moment looking over the extensive damage to the ship. He furrows his brow seeing a combination of plasma round impacts, railgun impacts and laser burns on it hull.
'What kind of ship was it? And did you get a name?'
'FDL, no ship name but I did get a name of the pilot. Kira... I didn't catch a last name but I can assure she will be a problem moving forward. Damned skilled combat pilot, might even give you a run for your money Marc. She sure as hell gave me one hell of a beating.'
'I doubt that. Remember who trained you. But this is some good intel. Good job now let's get you a drink.'
The two proceed out of the hangar and make their way to the crew lounge on the carrier. Members of the crew murmur as they see Diaz and Grenshaw walk in. One group gets up from their table and motions for Diaz and Grenshaw to take it from them. It seemed as though everyone onboard Queen Anne's Revenge was terrified of the two men. The bar tender brings over two drink packs filled with rum and cola. The two take the drinks and plot the next portion of their plan.
'What ship was Silvia using? And were all the members of her brothers crew taken in?'
'She was using an Alliance challenger. Poorly outfitted for ship to ship combat. All members except her brother were taken in. Thanks to our mole in the outfit we were able to take them by complete surprise.'
'You let her brother escape?' Diaz growls seemingly pissed off about the lapse in judgement from Grenshaw.
'We did but only because I placed a tracking chip in his arm. Now we will know exactly where they head off to. Or at least we will have a general idea of where they are. I also made sure he knew who let him live. I placed down the bait in order to attempt to draw her into our snare.'
Grenshaw attempts to calm Diaz as best he could. He knew honesty was the only way to prevent himself getting put on the wrong end of Diaz's fist. Diaz's face seems to relax when he hears Grenshaw explain his reasoning. For all he was worth Grenshaw was very capable of scheming which is what made him so valuable to Diaz and his operations.
'Ok you are lucky I trust you Nick. I hope you know what you are doing. Now go get some rest you have earned a few days off. Hell you can even go planet side and enjoy the locals.'
Diaz dismisses Grenshaw with a pat on the back and begins to think of the next part of his plan. Finishing his drink Diaz proceeds out of the lounge and heads towards Jules' holding cell. As he approaches he grabs the shutdown remote from a pouch on his belt.
'Wake the fuck up wench!'
He presses a button on the remote which delivers an electrical shock to Jules through her cybernetics. Jules yells out in pain from the sudden jolt once again being reminded that Diaz had full control over her every action. As the shock ends she carefully stands to her feet, her head hanging low. The tone in her voice is filled with defeat annoyance.
'Yes? What do you want?! AHHHHHH!!!!!'
She lets out a scream as Diaz sends another shock through her body not liking the tone Jules was using with him.
'Watch your fucking tongue! This is the last time I will tell you this!' Diaz growls out. He clears his throat then in a commanding and authoritative tone continues. 'I need your infiltration skills. Failure is not an option this time. You are to grab both Silvia and her little pet and bring them back to this ship..... Alive!'
Jules looks up from the floor when Diaz finishes speaking. She asks a singular question, the defeat in her voice still ringing through.
'And what happens if I fail?'
Diaz smirks at the question he knew he had her broken but he also wanted her to know that he would not tolerate failure on her part again. She had already proven that she was willing to betray him and that was a risk he was willing to take for the payday that was being offered.
'If you refuse to do this I will personally strap you down in one of the airlocks and vent the atmosphere. Should you fail to return with one or both of your targets the punishment will be the removal of the remainder of your flesh and bone limbs.'
Jules goes rigid at the thought of losing her remaining leg and arm. She acknowledges Diaz with nothing more than a small nod. He smiles and opens the door to her cell. Jules walks out and waits for Diaz to lead the way. As they make their way to the hangars Diaz stops at the medical room to grab a tranquilizer pen and several tranquilizer darts.
'Take these and don't fuck this up!' Diaz growls, his voice filled with disgust.
Jules remains silent not wanting to anger Diaz anymore. Diaz proceeds to the armory Jules following closely behind holding onto the pouch full of tranqs. He enters the armory closing the gate in Jules' face. He walks over to one of the weapons rack and pulls an old pistol out. It resembles a Heckler and Koch USP 40C. He grabs 4 magazines from the case containing 12 rounds each. He walks over to another rack and grabs a tranquilizer gun. Diaz exists the armory and hands the weapons over to Jules.
'Don't even think about using this pistol on me. It'll be the last thing you ever do.' Diaz's voice is stern and his intentions clear.
As they make their way to the hangars Jules grows curious. She didn't have a ship onboard and wasn't sure if Diaz had made arrangements for one of her ships to be delivered.
'So.... What ship will I be taking?' Her tone is cloaked in fear and curiosity making the intentions of the question confusing.
Diaz stops and turns to face Jules. not paying attention to where she was walking, due to her staring at the pistol on her hip, she walks straight into Diaz. The stop is so abrupt she nearly topples over backwards. Fear envelopes her entirely and she begins to shake. Diaz raises his hand and Jules flinches, bracing for the possibility of being hit by Diaz. She waits for a moment and realizes he wasn't going to strike her for not paying attention and sees instead that he was motioning to the hangar to his left. Behind the glass Jules sees her favorite ship Pit Viper fully restored and now painted in Osiris Black and Gold. It was strange for her to see the ship she loved so much, painted in anything other than white and blue.
'I thought you might like your old ship back.' Diaz smirks as he talks to Jules, knowing full well she disapproved of the color scheme.
'Except like me you own that ship. It's just another check in your box at showing me I don't control my life anymore. You are a cowardly pig. If you weren't you wouldn't be holding that remote anytime you are around me.' Jules cannot refrain from snapping back at Diaz fully expecting him to shut her down for talking back but instead it seems as if Diaz enjoys the hatred.
'Keep it up you'll need that fire to succeed. Failure is not an option and if you decide to betray me again, You will live in agony for the remainder of your pathetic life. You will be a trophy on my wall constantly on display and a vivid reminder to anyone never to cross me.' Diaz is almost to excited speaking about keeping Jules against her will for as long as he is capable.
Jules rolls her eyes at the comment and heads off into the hangar. Climbing onboard pit viper her fear vanishes. She makes her way into the cockpit and calls over to her ship AI.
'June I need you to locate a ship for me.'
"What ship do you need me to locate? I have missed your voice Julia."
'I have missed yours as well June. I need you to locate a Challenger Named Ranger. It should be on Earth.'
"Julia..... is this about Silvia again? I can't.... I can't lose you again."
Jules sighs her heart sinking as June expresses her concerns. Though she was just a construct in her ship that Jules had worked on it was still painful for her to hear that she was saddened.
'It is but...' Jules pauses for a bit and decides to instead hold her tongue whilst still docked on Queen Anne's Revenge. 'June please just target lock the ship for me.'
"Fine but you owe me an explanation later."
Jules departs from Queen Anne's Revenge and buzzes the bridge while feeling the controls of her ship.
***
Back on earth Kira and I have made it back to the city and planetary port. Jackson is taken to a nearby hospital and Kira approaches me. Her demeanor tells me she is livid with me.
'What the hell were you thinking? Do you have any idea just how stupid that move was? You could have been.....'
She doesn't even have a chance to finish before I put my hand up to stop her.
'Yes I am aware. It was stupid and reckless. I was concerned about my brother and was not thinking properly. Damn it Kasumi.... I just....'
Kira slaps me showing me just how annoyed she is. Her posture softens and her demeanor changes to one of worry. The look on her face shows her concern.
'You are not safe out here. I've been up for way too long already, and I have barely slept at all for a few days. If we talk more, I think it should be somewhere more private. And that has a bed. Or two. No offense, but I’m not looking to share. And you’d probably complain I’m pulling all the sheets over to my side if we did.'
'Ya you're right I'm not safe. Haven't been for quite some time. Now with Grenshaw lurking around its even worse. Jackson also told me that Diaz is still very much so alive. Actually the fact that Jackson even knows this is concerning to me.'
Kira and I find a hotel nearby and grab a room. Kira insisted on sharing a room but also insisted on having 2 separate beds for us to sleep in. Once inside the room away from prying eyes and ears Kira removes her hood and sits on one of the beds. Melli runs over and plops down next to her, happy to be on solid ground and away from the horrors of the storm. Kira reaches down and scratches Melli's exposed belly fully expecting her to attack her hand but instead Melli simply lays there accepting the gently touch. Kira stares at me with discontent and shakes her head.
'You know if I had been a few minutes later things would have likely turned out much more different than they had. When I suggested you come along in my ship it was more intended to speed things along, not to control you. Anyways I am going to try to get some sleep you should too.'
'Ya ok.....'
My voice trails off and I just sit in silence. Kira crawls beneath the covers and shuts off the light in the room. I look over at the clock and see its nearly midnight. It had been such a busy day and I had lost track of time. I began to feel the effects of overworking myself and laid down in bed closing my eyes and falling asleep a short while later.
****