A Call For Help
29 Mar 2017Lilith2980
Authors Note: This story follows on AFTER the Citi Gateway events that are mid publication. A simple run down of the end is Lilith got in contact with Marra Morgan and upon asking for a tail to be put on CMDR Luke found herself paying for the tail by being employed at Exotica. We pick up after her time has finished.____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Stepping out of the noisy, red neon lit building, and into the bustling streets of Clair Dock, Lilith looked up at the sign above the doorway to the establishment she'd just spent the best part of a week inside.
More accurately, working inside. The thought sent a shiver down her spine as she tightened her trench coat around herself, feeling exposed in the somewhat revealing outfit that had been her uniform for that week. Now wishing she'd taken the extra time to get changed into her own clothing, but she'd been in too much of a hurry to leave. Besides, running off with what barely passed for clothing in there seemed like a good way to give a subtle middle finger to the establishment.
*I needed that tail.* She thought to herself, in an attempt to justify to herself the course of action she'd just taken. It didn't work. The thought of what went on in there only bothered her slightly, however, the thought that she'd just spent the week as one of the attractions, had her sickened by herself.
Her mind was heavy, and her thoughts hazy, but one thing kept running clear through her head. *Ship, Shower, Sleep, Swift Exit.* Trouble was, her mind was that foggy, the directions were a bit lost on her. She'd be damned if she was going to go back into Exotica and ask for help. Instead, with great effort, she cast her mind back to arriving, hoping to work backwards from there.
*****
"Welcome to Claire Dock, please follow station procedure and head directly to your assigned landing bay. Loitering will not be tolerated and is grounds to be fired upon." Came a bored sounding female voice as Lilith guided her Python, the Spearhead, through the blue force field mailslot of the station entrance.
Given why she'd made the trip here, loitering was a very tempting thought. So much so, she throttled down and dawdled her way to the pad at the back of the station, barely pushing 10m/s. Unfortunately, or fortunately, this didn't qualify as an offensively low speed and despite the lengthy time it took, she reached her assigned landing pad and touched down.
Her hand touched the plastic card that Marra had given her. *You seem to have a pretty loose tongue, so I figure we can find a use for it.* She'd said. Only, Lilith wasn't exactly here to make Public Service Announcements. No, it was an altogether different public service she'd found herself here to perform. A thought that had her grimacing, and certainly not for the first time since Citi Gateway.
She'd followed the instructions on the card to find the place, failing to take in the surrounding area and, by extension, any landmarks that could have aided her.
Next thing Lilith was aware of she found herself standing at the back entrance to Exotica. She was on the verge of either turning back, vomiting, or both when it had burst open and a very exhausted and dishevelled blonde woman had almost bowled her over. A man had been shouting after her, Aisha, Alisha or something like that, it didn't matter. But she grabbed Liliths wrists and muttered something to her that nearly sent her packing.
"If you've got the choice between here or hell... Choose hell, trust me." With that, Lilith was left standing, and she was about to turn on her heels and take her chances with Black Omega, but the shouting man had reached the door. He was well dressed, if a little roughed up, she suspected the woman had put up a bit of a fight with him. His slicked back hair had enough product in it to keep the local salon in business single handedly, and when he opened his mouth to talk, a single silver crowned tooth could be seen amongst the rest of his pearly whites.
"And you are?... Ah, a new worker." He'd said, basically sneering as he spotted the card in her hand, "You're in luck, a vacancy just opened up." With that, he'd ushered her inside, not forcefully, but commandingly enough to establish Lilith had little choice in the matter.
Lilith barely had any chance to take in the interior and she was sitting in an office with the sneering man sat across from her, and a heavy built man at the door.
"Don't worry 'bout 'im. Get all sorts in 'ere, you un'erstan" He said, spotting Lilith tensing up at his presence. As though ready for a fight if they tried to force anything, "Righ' then, to business. Name?"
"Lilith," she said simply, "Marra sent me. We had a deal. Four shifts, peak hours. That's it."
*****
After that, things got a bit blurry. She remembered that the guy had tried acting first like Marra didn't run the place, then claimed she hadn't passed on any information regarding a deal. But Lilith had enough sense to call his bluff each step of the way. Not really able to believe herself that she was actually fighting to start work while every instinct she had was screaming at her to be fighting for the exact opposite.
The man had then retrieved a small case from his desk, containing a small gun like object and a collection of glass tubes with a clear green liquid inside each one. He'd simply stated it was entirely optional, but that many workers found it made their stay less uncomfortable. He'd also conveniently neglected to mention it leaves the user incredibly sedated, which was why she now found herself dazed, confused, and lost outside the place.
They'd taken advantage of her vulnerability. Working her almost non-stop and 'accidentally' neglecting to inform her that her four days were up and keeping her there for nearly a week before her supply of the sedative began to run dry. She'd grabbed her things and left as soon as she'd sobered up enough to do so. Anger being the main fuel for her quick departure.
Anger quickly gave way to frustration as she wound her way through the streets of Clair Dock, desperately looking for a sign directing her to the docks. By some small fortune, she found an elevator, within which were several buttons, one of which was labelled 'Ship Docks'. Ignoring whether or not anyone else was headed towards the lift, she hit the switch and breathed a small sigh of relief as the doors shut and the box began its journey.
Upon arrival, Lilith struggled to remember the number of her landing pad, her brain was still swimming in a soup of drugs and adrenaline as her hands began to shake. The first signs of withdrawal. She knew she didn't really 'need' the drug, but that didn't stop her body from getting dependant on the stuff and now time was of the essence. Originally, she'd planned to sleep off exhaustion before leaving, now she figured it would be best to depart as soon as possible, jump several systems away, and park up for a few days to fight off the rest of her symptoms.
The viewport contained a list of all the ships that were docked there, and a quick skim read had her eyes fall onto a familiar name. Spearhead - Pad 02. There was a large red 'X' alongside it, but Lilith was in no mood to register its meaning, turning on her heels as the first beads of sweat began running down her forehead, she power walked to the landing bay, following the signs.
Upon reaching the twin doors to the bay, marked in large numbers zero and two, she input her usual choice security code and was greeted with a red light and a short, but sharp buzzing noise. Figuring her shaking hands had slipped and hit a wrong digit, she put in the same code again with the same result. The third time, she clenched her hand into a fist, consciously extended her first finger and very carefully and deliberately input each digit, ensuring that this time, there was no mistakes.
"BZZZ!!! Three incorrect entries, security alerted." Came a robotic sounding female voice. No sooner had it stopped, two burly armed men rounded the corner and blocked her against the wall. One input a few digits into the pad, silencing the alarm before they both turned on her.
"This is her, right?"
"Must be, she's here ain't she?"
"Gary's gonna love us for this... Think we might even get in good with the boss?"
"Could do... Love to get outta this shit job anyways."
This conversation seemed to continue, as Lilith began looking for avenues of escape. But she wasn't nearly as subtle as she'd thought as one pushed the barrel of his pistol against her side.
"Nuh uh, we got a few questions first missy." He growled, "See, this here vessel has been impounded pending an, uhh... Shall we say, investigation?"
Lilith kept silent, too busy fighting against the shaking and sweating that were trying to take over.
"Yeah, see, we have reason to believe there's illegal cargo on board." The other had continued, practically chuckling, "So, we gotta ask you. Are you Lilith Doragon, the owner of this Python?"
She nodded.
"Ah good, see, we had a proposition for you." The first man said, "We heard you were bad mouthing the boss lady. On her Birthday of all occasions. So we figure you oughta be punished."
"So we decided to impound this here vessel for a few days. You understand right?" The other man continued. It was like some weird double act, comedy show on the Galnet with each person continuing the others sentences.
Lilith’s response was simply a stern glare before her instincts kicked in, adrenaline charged through her veins and she swung out with her fist, aiming for the first man’s face. Then she would duck down and swipe the other ones legs out from under him before disarming them both and demanding access to her ship.
It failed miserably.
No sooner had she raised her arm to inflict the punch than the man grabbed her arm, twisted it behind her and pushed her up against the wall. The sedatives still hadn't completely worn off and what should have been a quick, easy takedown of two knuckleheads simply made her look stupid.
And weak.
"Alright. Tell you what... You pay us the impound fee and we'll let you go. Seems fair to us." Said the man holding her arm tight.
"How.... How much?" Lilith relented, despising her own inability to fight back even more.
"Let's see. Possible illicit cargo, slander against the faction leader, attempted assault on a security officer. What do you think?" He asked turning to his partner in crime.
The man lifted the back of her trenchcoat up, revealing the lacy undergarments she was wearing. Then dropped it down. Her face turned bright red, both with anger and embarrassment. Not at being exposed, but at their complete control over her to do with as they pleased.
"Add theft of private property and indecent exposure I reckon. Quite a hefty fine in total. I'd say around seven hundred and fifty grand oughta cover it."
"You are joking right?" Lilith said, attempting to turn to face them, only to have her shoulder crack in protest as it nearly dislocated.
"Not at all. Seven hundred and fifty thousand, and you can go. But it goes up by fifty k each day so best you work out payment quick." Said one of the men.
"Alright... Fine... But my datapad and credit chit are on board." She relented. The two men looked at each other and seemed to come to a silent agreement before releasing her arm.
"Fine, but we're coming with you." One said to her as Lilith rolled her arm checking for damage. Satisfied that it would be minor muscle pain at best she gestured to the keypad at the door.
"Care to do the honours?" She asked in mock politeness, her words still slurring slightly. Thankfully the adrenaline was helping keep the worst of the withdrawals at bay, but time was running out fast.
A moment later, the doors slid open and revealed her Python sitting quietly on the pad. A quick check revealed that, beyond the regular docking clamps, there was nothing locking the ship in place. This bode well for her, clearly they hadn't gone to great lengths to keep her here.
As they made their way up the boarding ramp, Liliths mind began to formulate a plan of escape. Whether it would work or not was dependant solely on how long she could fight off the effects of the sedative.
Physical confrontation was out of the question, that much had already proven obvious. They weren't up for negotiating either, and even if they were, Lilith had nothing to bargain with, unless... No, no way she'd stoop that low. A week at Exotica was bad enough with the details being hazy at best, but it would be clear as day to her now, she was sure of it.
She made her way towards the cockpit, and just before stepping through the threshold she took a deep breath. There was no other choice. After months, if not years of taking care of herself, it was time to concede that she needed help.
Using what little energy she could muster, she stepped through the door and quickly turned and punched the keypad, slamming the door shut between herself and her captors. Instantly, they began shouting and demanding the door be opened. But Liliths heart was racing and she had to act fast. On the plus side, adrenaline was now coursing through her veins as her fighters instinct took hold, but the drawback was that the remainder of the drugs now had a faster route to her brain.
Without hesitating, she brought up the comms panel, grateful she didn't keep a long list of contacts. She scrolled past several names and settled on one in particular.
"If you get into a bind, let me know."
Well... She was in one now, and it was time to see how useful allies could actually be. She hit the voice contact button and waited for the computer to make its connection. All the while, the two men outside continued their banging and shouting outside the cockpit door.
Lilith waited, and waited. A direct connection never seemed to arrive, like she was either being ignored or the user was busy. By the time the computer opted to grant the option of sending a message, the drugs were overruling the adrenaline and the men had managed to pry the door open slightly.
"Hi... It's... Me…. Lil… Lilith. I need help.... Been.... I'm stuck in… umm… shit… Exotica. Made deal with Marra... Working at Exotica... Please come… I… Just find Exotica…" Her words were slurred and the shouting from the men wasn't helping as they finally got the door open. She was fighting to stay conscious already, and in desperation, she hit send then turned to see one of the men raise the butt of his rifle and after that, everything went black.
=====================================================================================================================
Authors Note: This is the first of several collaborative chapters with Caitlin Shaugnessy keep an eye out for Part 2, entitled 'A Debt Repaid: Rust'
A big thanks to Marra Morgan and Stryker Aune for their input, advice and incredible patience!!!