Rebuy: Pt.4 - Tether
05 Mar 2020Princess Nihlus
RebuyA Princess Nihlus Story
. . . . .
Part 4
-:Tether:-
. . . . .
She pounded on the unyielding glass with bruised fists, the unconscious occupant of the Med Chamber showed no sign of movement.
"Wake up!" She screamed for a third time amidst tears of desperation knowing full well that if they did not then all of this was for nothing.
Princess Nihlus opened his eyes.
. . . . .
"I can't believe I let you maniacs talk me into this." Dr. Tanosis chastised the room, addressing no one in particular as she tended the enormous Quantum Entanglement Communicator in the centre of the lab. Deano shrugged off the comment and stayed focused on the pair of Med Chambers. This was one of the most insane things he had been a part of, and he had seen a lot of weird shit during his tenure in the void.
As if on cue both Med Chambers simultaneously sprang to life, the semi translucent glass concealing much of what was happening inside as the raw genetic material within each device was converted into bone, blood, and flesh. The only difference this time was Dr. Tanosis was ready for it, tracking their Grey Box signals and diverting them from their intended relay direct to the infirmary at Suri Gateway while marking the relay coordinates in her data pad.
Each of the chambers went through their motions until the seals finally hissed open with a high pitched scream from Ellesandra violently regaining consciousness, kicking and beating on the inside casing of the Med Chamber as it slowly released each of the weighty mechanical locks. Nihlus was already out and lighting a cigarette having coughed up yet another Rebuy cost in pursuit of this madness. He felt different this time somehow, the true knowledge of what had just transpired casting a moment of doubt over his sense of self.
"How do you feel?" Deano was leaning against the wall with his arms folded across his chest.
"Like someone else's shoes." Nihlus muttered into his cigarette trying to find the words amidst Ellesandra's frantic screaming.
She burst from the chamber all arms and legs, scrambling across the floor to the corner of the room.
"Mother!" Cried the doctor and was by her side in an instant. Ellesandra's screams turned to anguished sobs as she glanced around.
"Lysa?" She said, the sparkle in her vibrant green eyes shining with recognition at her daughter, her crying turned to tears of joy as the two slumped together in an embrace.
"But how?" Ellesandra asked her daughter after some moments had passed, she turned to Nihlus in response.
"You!" Ellesandra exclaimed at Princess Nihlus, she began to cry again and Lysa shot him a hateful stare. Nihlus took another draw on his cigarette and awaited the inevitable gunshot but instead it was Ellesandra who sprang to her feet. She flung herself at Nihlus, throwing her arms around him and holding him tight as she continued to sob in his arms. He dropped his cigarette to the floor and, not knowing what else to do, grabbed her shoulders in an attempt to separate from her grasp but her arms were locked tight around him. She looked up at him with full round eyes, the colour now restored and silently mouthed "Thank you".
The stark reminder of her last words to him all those months ago was too much and he finally succeeded in pushing her away. She relented her grip and turned to her daughter once more.
"Well?" She said, glancing over the room.
"Will someone please explain to me what the hell just happened?"
. . . . .
Considering the metaphysical implications she took it all really rather well. Ellesandra listened intently as her daughter laid out how her research had brought her to Vesuvit, how watching the local mob of Time of Chaos pilots repeatedly murder each other for sport had exposed the truth behind the Rebuy system leading her to reverse engineer the Med Chambers and a better understanding of Grey Box technology.
The Quantum Entanglement Communicator was the hardest part to acquire, but some creative larceny from Time of Chaos helped her complete her work.
She absorbed it all while nodding in affirmation, with her memory returned she began making sense of what had happened aboard 'Consent' when Nihlus had first picked up her pod. For Nihlus it was an event that had clearly left a mark on him, carrying the weight of his actions for months.
To Ellesandra it happened yesterday.
She had tried to ask Nihlus about what took place aboard the Dark Marauder ship but he apparently remembered nothing after boarding the 'Henry Morgan'. Lysa explained about the Grey Box tether for each ship, there was only limited range and bandwidth between the two so data loss was bound to happen with Nihlus not aboard when 'Consent' went into meltdown.
Ellesandra smirked to herself at the sheer gamble Princess Nihlus had taken and wondered if he even cared if it had worked or not.
"Where is he now?" Ellesandra finally spoke, catching her daughter off guard slightly.
"Hanger bay." Lysa said cautiously unsure of her mother's fascination with their surprising companion.
"I want to talk to him." She said and stood up from her chair in the private bar, noting the look of concern on Lysa's face, she placed a hand on her shoulder but said nothing more as she left.
'Consent' was easy to track down, a Fer De Lance was uncommon here, most of the pilots in Vesuvit preferred smaller ships for their speed and cheaper Rebuy. The servitor arms were still coupling the enormous Plasma Accelerator to the underside of the ship and Ellesandra chuckled to herself at the over compensatory size of the weapon. She strode through the hanger bay and straight for the open ramp, navigating her way up through the ship that was so familiar to her now. Nihlus was at the helm obsessing over a ship transfer screen, turning on her suddenly as she approached.
"Why did you come back for me?" Ellesandra chose to be as direct as possible. She stood before Nihlus, his pearl-like eyes having lost their mystery to her, she was more curious than afraid.
"I'll be leaving soon." He stated and turned back to the console.
"As soon as a ship with a better jump range than this coffin gets here I'm going looking for answers." He shut down the console and turned to his power management screen. Ellesandra was having none of it and placed herself in his field of view behind the holographic display.
"I'm going with you."
"Why?"
"You tell me." Ellesandra shot back without pause.
Nihlus rose from his seat, towering over her but he was no longer the threatening presence she had first met. She raised a hand slowly and he almost instinctively withdrew but managed to keep a hold of himself, his eyes closed as the warm skin of her soft hand made contact with his face. He let out a sigh as he opened his eyes again, a sense of comfort washed over him like nothing he had ever felt. Gently he took hold of her hand and moved it away, shaking his head.
"You'll never be safe, not with me, not out there." Nihlus lamented, possibly the first emotion she had seen from him.
"I'm a rogue slave, Nihlus! I'll never be safe anywhere, and you're not the only one who wants answers." She said sharply in a tone which offered no discussion.
"And besides, I was not asking permission." That last statement snapping Nihlus back from his self pity to Ellesandra and eyeing her with admiration.
"How long until your ship gets here?" She asked, her expression softening.
"About two hours." She was moving closer as Nihlus spoke, her breath becoming hot on his skin. Her delicate fingers found their way up the chest of his flight suit and took a hold of the zip, history almost repeating itself once more.
He wanted to be in a thousand other places, the proximity of her body driving needles of prickly heat all over his skin as she drew him closer. A rush of stale recycled air swept through Nihlus as his jacket hit the floor and his body cooled for an instant. She held his lithe malnourished frame against her own, pale from years in the void and littered with scars, each one triggering a vivid memory as her fingers traced across a significant gouge from sternum to shoulder.
A second flight jacket hit the floor.
"I told you, I wasn't asking."
. . . . .
"Is this a joke?" Lysa was frozen in place with absolute disbelief at her mother's plan.
"The two of you want to track the signal?" She gripped her data pad so tight that she nearly cracked the screen.
"If our Grey Box signals were heading to some kind of relay station like you say then surely we have to see what's out there!" Her mother had never been so willful or animated, her eyes widening frantically.
The freshly reconstructed memories had somehow broken her Imperial Conditioning despite years in servitude and she was now more driven than ever.
"I've only just got you back!" Lysa was holding back her hysterics, her mother's plan was just too risky with too many variables.
"I don't want to lose you again, I can't." Cried Lysa but she knew there was no changing her mind. There was something miraculous between life and death and it's pull was more powerful than a thousand black holes, so she said the only reasonable thing she could of.
"I'm going with you." Her words almost echoing her mother's.
"He won't like that." Ellesandra chimed with false joviality.
"I don't give a shit what that psychopath likes or wants! Neither of you know what the hell you're doing anyway." She was already packing a box of cables as she unhooked her main console.
"And you have no idea," she slammed the box down "No idea what that creature is capable of."
She yanked several cables at once from a Med Chamber and started coiling them angrily.
"I only saw a fraction of what's inside his Grey Box and that was enough!"
She stopped and stared at her mother, throwing the knotted tangle of cables to the floor.
"So once again the smart one of the family comes to everyone's rescue." She embellished her tirade with a dramatic sweep of her arm that settled on Nihlus as he entered the lab. A tense stare out followed and several agonising seconds passed.
"Are you ready?" He eventually asked Ellesandra without giving away his unease.
"We will need a few minutes." Lysa shot at him emphasising the word 'We'.
Nihlus continued to stare at her and lit a cigarette.
"Docking bay fourteen." He said after a long draw and walked out again.
. . . . .
Lysa yelled at the dock worker driving the loader as he dumped several tons of her equipment in the hanger bay. She went on for some time, criticising his clumsiness and noting just how irreplaceable her gear was. The dock worker nodded and smiled.
"Sabes, en realidad hablo inglés pero eres una pequeña perra, así que vete a la mierda señora!" He said, grinning from ear to ear.
"Just…. Be careful. Please." She said calming herself, the dock worker drove the Grav Loader away to retrieve the rest of her cargo, muttering to himself in Spanish. She checked over everything twice, making sure there was no damage to her apparatus before turning to Nihlus and scowling. The ship he was waiting for had finally arrived on a transport freighter and it did not live up to Lysa's expectations.
"A Cobra? Really?" Her astonishment was written all over her face. The aging Cobra MkIII looked like it had been through a war or two and had several makeshift components bolted to the exterior of the ship. Some she recognised, others were a complete mystery.
The dock worker returned with the second palate.
"Aquí está tu mierda, come una polla." He said with a smile and Lysa checked over the gear, nodding her approval.
Nihlus readied the cargo ramp and directed the dock worker to start loading the ship. A crate of modular terminals came first followed by the large QEC interceptor, Lysa's own custom built device that could mimic and redirect Quantum Entanglement Communications. This was how she was able to hijack Grey Box signals which would have otherwise ended up at an infirmary somewhere.
"You don't think we're going to make it out alive, do you." Nihlus stated more than asked, leaning against the open bulkhead door as she paced out an area of the hold.
"You're planning to walk straight into an unknown relay station, one that clearly wasn't meant to be found." She said smoothly, her tone even and steady now she was engaged in her work once more.
"You have no clue what's out there, no escape plan if it all goes to shit." She coupled a group of cables to the QEC and turned to Nihlus with the other ends in hand.
"Black Box?" She asked with fake sweetness, Nihlus thumbed over his shoulder towards the power distributor beneath the flight deck and Lysa carried the thick bundle of cables through the door and ducked into a crawl space.
"All of this I can accept." She shouted from deep inside the ducts and pulled more cable through. She emerged a moment later having connected the cables and stood face to face with Nihlus as he hunched over in the cramped access junction.
"All of it, except you." She finished with a sideways glance and walked back into the hold to unpack more gear.
"You have no sense of self preservation, Nihlus. None. And while that may have served your utter disregard for life in the past it's not just yours on the line anymore."
She stopped and looked him square in the eye.
"What I'm saying is this: if you jeopardise my mother's life I'll kill you." As she finished, Lysa connected the power to the QEC and it hummed into activation.
"With science."
Nihlus understood the threat, nodded, and went to check on the power output of the ship. Lysa's equipment was a huge draw on the Cobra's reactor and there was going to be no way to run the ship and her equipment simultaneously, he began meticulously powering down as many non essential systems as he could get away with and programmed a shut down sequence in case of a reactor overload. He came back through to find Lysa had made speedy work of constructing a field lab in the hold.
"Data pad." He demanded with an expectant hand.
She glared at him.
He glared back.
"Am I interrupting?" Came Ellesandra's voice as she ascended the cargo ramp.
She was now clad in a combat fitted black and red flight suit similar to the one Nihlus wore, he raised an eyebrow and cocked a gap-toothed grin as he lit a cigarette. Ellesandra responded by hoisting an assault rifle over her shoulder and Nihlus glanced back to Lysa to see her shaking her head at Ellesandra.
This was going to be a long trip.
Gone was the sheepish gait of a broken slave. Gone too were the flowing raven black curls. Hair tied back in a tight ponytail and the lustre returned to her ocean green eyes, Ellesandra was almost unrecognisable. The suit and rifle were Quartermaster Deavo's work no doubt, Nihlus made a mental note to bring back a few cases of Lavian Brandy if he lived through the next twenty four hours. He retrieved Lysa's data pad himself and pawed through the Grey Box signal data, sending the coordinates of the relay station to his Nav Computer.
He tossed the data pad back in the crate and turned to Lysa.
"Secure everything for take off, skids up in five." He said flatly and turned towards the front of the ship.
"You can finish playing with your toys once we're out." He shouted in self amusement from the small two man cockpit.
He strapped into the pilot's chair and began checking over the systems, power was going to be an issue but there was nothing else he could cut from the ship. Ellesandra joined him and strapped in to the co-pilot's seat without saying a word. She turned to Nihlus with a look of absolute fearlessness and focus. Nihlus envied that in her.
Lysa was right about him. He wasn't fearless, he was reckless. Nihlus would happily die at any moment and get them killed in the process.
But Ellesandra, she didn't look like she was ready for anything less than a fight to the bitter end.
He nodded to her and reached for the intercom.
"You all strapped in down there?" He called through to the cargo bay.
"Check." Was the curt response from Lysa.
Nihlus powered up the ship and the lift of the hanger bay ascended to the station's cylindrical interior.
"So, do you have a name for this thing?" Asked Ellesandra glancing around the tattered cockpit.
"You know, I have no memory of ever buying this ship." He said as he searched his mind, a sudden look of confusion that passed a moment later. He turned to Ellesandra.
"How do you think I could forget something like that?" He sneered, angry that there was so much of him missing, like an old book left in the rain, pages clumped together and whole chapters sealed off, lost to the deluge.
Nihlus pulled back on the stick and boosted off the pad forcing Ellesandra back in the chair. He cleared the rotating station entrance at over six hundred metres per second, narrowly missing the tail of a Beluga Liner as he shot out into the black.
"Indifference."
"What's that?" Asked Ellesandra.
"The ship, she's called 'Indifference'."
. . . . .
Tensions were high as Nihlus made his forty sixth jump. Lysa had spent the entire journey in the cargo bay tinkering with lab equipment which made the power on the ship fluctuate. Ellesandra and Nihlus had talked little preferring to focus on the task at hand. When they did talk it was clear Nihlus was troubled but Ellesandra didn't press the issue, instead talking about her time as a slave. After her encounter with Nihlus she was considered 'Damaged Goods' and relegated to low pay household and pleasure assignments. Passed from owner to owner, sometimes in trade and sometimes as a prize in a losing hand, she recounted the cruelty she had seen in the underbelly of the Imperial Slave Trade. Her only reprieve was the Commander who tried to smuggle her and some of her slave Sisters out of Imperial space, but he ended up as a hostage of the Dark Marauders. Having eventually run out of steam in this one sided conversation she joined her daughter in the cargo hold, Nihlus was alone.
There was no automation to take up any of the slack so Nihlus' constant attention at the helm was required, scooping the corona of each star after every jump to keep the hydrogen fuel topped up.
He enjoyed the peace.
All he ever wanted was to be left alone, but with that now just a faded ambition he made the most of his solitude. There were only two more jumps to make and they were way outside the Bubble by a few hundred light years. Somehow the stars seemed brighter out here, unburdened by Nav Beacons swimming with trade ships or system security scanning him every five minutes just for turning up. He had a fleeting desire to just flush the cargo hold airlock and stay out here but he was nearly out of cigarettes.
Cigarettes!
Nihlus reached for his pack of Wolfwoods and found there were only two left and his other packs were aboard 'Consent' back at Vesuvit. He lit one and dropped out of Supercruise in the middle of nowhere, drifting in silence by allowing the inertia of the ship to carry it unpowered.
Each deep inhale was held before a long exhale of noxious tobacco smoke. An occasional ring found its way across the pressurised cabin, dissipating on the dash. Two full minutes of uninterrupted silence followed and Nihlus lapped up every second.
A loud clunk of several systems powering up at once meant Lysa must have finished butchering his power plant.
Nihlus finished as much of the cigarette as he could in one final pull and extinguished it at his feet, turning his attention to his systems and power output once again. He was still adjusting the shut down sequence when he was joined by both mother and daughter.
"Everything's all set, the system's automated so it will only draw power when remotely activated." Lysa's tone and demeanor had relaxed somewhat, she and her mother had been in the hold talking for some time and it was clear a reconciliation of some kind had happened between them.
"Just say the word." Ellesandra straightened as she spoke, holding the assault rifle close with a determined grimace.
"We are two jumps out." Nihlus began.
"Ellesandra. We go in, we find the first terminal we can, hack the mainframe and link it to the QEC."
He turned to Lysa.
"When we make the connection you bulk transfer everything you can to this piece of shit's computer." The thrusters of 'Indifference' sputtered in protest but Nihlus ignored it.
"But while the transfer is happening the ship will have no thrusters, no weapons, and no jump drive. It's the only way to keep the shields up and run the QEC."
Lysa nodded and took a deep, thoughtful breath. She looked to her mother who looked back and then to Nihlus.
"Let's do this."
. . . . .
There was nothing in the system save for the dim brown dwarf star and the signal. Not a single planet passed them by as the three of them raced toward the farthest reaches of this empty pocket of the void. Without the gravity well of planets or stars to hinder the ship it accelerated far beyond speeds that Nihlus had ever travelled. Low creaks reverberated around the ship as the fabric of spacetime accommodated the intrusion. Nihlus slowed the ship gradually as they approached their final destination, bringing 'Indifference' down to a more sensible speed.
The ship dropped out of Supercruise and Nihlus immediately began scanning, they were about two hundred kilometres from the station. Nihlus lined up the ship and gave the thrusters a single boost before cutting power to engines and flight assist, drifting silently through space, cold as night.
In the cargo bay, Ellesandra was storing spare magazines in an ammo pouch while Lysa tinkered with the Med Chamber she had brought with her.
"This your back up plan?" Nihlus asked as he leaned against the doorframe. He looked at his last cigarette but decided against it, tossing the pack next to the Med Chamber.
"And you only brought one." He concluded.
Ellesandra said nothing as she rechecked the same magazine again.
"If this goes as bad, you get my mother out first. It takes exactly three minutes and eleven seconds." Lysa said coldly and looked Nihlus right in the eye.
"I've increased the range of the Grey Box tether, a hundred and twelve metres if you wear these." The wrist mounted signal enhancer keyed to Nihlus as soon as he put it on.
"Any further and you run the risk of signal loss."
Nihlus nodded and turned back to the cockpit, taking his seat at the helm once more. He activated the internal heat sink, channelling all the heat generated by the reactor into a large ceramic disc and ejecting it out into space. 'Indifference' would now be impossible to spot by her heat signature.
"Two minutes!" Nihlus called back to the cargo hold. The sweat returned to his palms as he gripped the flight stick, the relay station was clearly visible now. It was still fifty kilometres away but he could make out the modular design, he could also see there were no patrol ships. Whoever put this all the way out here never expected it to be found.
Making minute adjustments to their trajectory he brought them in line with a nearside airlock and flipped the ship over, coasting backwards and decelerating gently so the two airlock doors met.
He powered down the ship as the seals locked and headed once more to the cargo bay. Ellesandra was waiting by the door gun in hand while Lysa paced between terminals, data pad in hand. Together they turned towards Nihlus as he entered, expectantly. He said nothing as he walked across the hold and opened the airlock door.
. . . . .
Hard stiletto heels rang out on the metallic flooring as Nihlus strode with an even pace, there was no light in the metallic corridor save for the white glow at the end. Nihlus neither quickened or slowed his steps as they clanged in rhythm, Ellesandra close behind him with her rifle pressed to her shoulder. The corridor was almost a hundred metres long which could pose problems if they wound up out of range. They approached the end of the corridor which opened out into a white room that was completely featureless except for the office desk and chair.
The door slammed shut behind them, sealing them in.
A second door opened on the other side of the desk and a single figure walked through. He was bald and ghostly white, possibly albino, carrying a clipboard and pen and wearing modern office attire. He pulled the chair out and sat at the desk, clicking the pen as he readied himself.
"Name." Said the albino without looking up.
"Ellesandra Tanosis." Said Ellesandra.
"I wasn't addressing you, cargo." The albino retorted with obvious disdain. Ellesandra raised the barrel of her rifle to his face.
"Call me cargo again."
The albino looked up at her and leaned against the barrel.
"Cargo." He said with bored resignation.
The gunshot was loud but muffled as the low velocity round collapsed on impact, embedding itself in his skull with little fanfare. The albino was now slumped back in the chair with that bored expression still on his face.
"I swear if one more person calls me cargo I will shove this gun down their throat and pull the trigger until it goes click!" Yelled Ellesandra.
Nihlus looked at the body, then to Ellesandra and back to the body. He was about to say something to her when the door opened again and a second bald albino stepped through. The albino walked over to his lifeless doppelganger and unceremoniously shoved him out of the chair. He picked up the clipboard and clicked the pen twice as he sat down.
"Name?" Said the albino without looking up.
"Princess Nihlus." Said Nihlus making sure to cut his hot headed companion off.
"Ah, yes of course. Purpose of your visit?" Now he was looking straight at Nihlus with his pale features. Nihlus looked to Ellesandra who gave a baffled shrug.
"Business?" Nihlus half asked, half stated. The albino grinned a broad smile with too many teeth.
"No return journey then." The albino was ticking several boxes on the clipboard and scribbling notes as he spoke. Putting the clipboard down he picked up an old fashioned phone that wasn't there a second ago and dialed an extension.
"Princess Nihlus, sir." The albino said into the handset. He gave a series of "Uh-huh's" as he listened to the voice on the other end and nodded before ending the call and looking up to Nihlus.
"They will see you now." Said the albino and indicated towards a side door that, much like the telephone was not there a when they first entered the room. The plain white door had a single chrome handle that Nihlus reached for.
He took a deep breath.
There was an intense noise as the door opened, at first it sounded like roaring fire which was intensified by the bright spotlights pointed right at them. The sounds gave way as Nihlus' vision adjusted to the glare, instead of fire they were presented with a room of men and women applauding loudly. They were all in various forms of black and grey business attire around the far end of a long black glossy conference table. The room was plain white much like the previous chamber but much, much larger with the table taking up a significant amount of space.
The throng of fifteen to twenty people continued their applause, smiling and whooping loudly. One of the men in the group stepped forward and the rest quieted down.
"Congratulations, iteration two-seventeen!" Said the middle aged man with a kindly face and smart black hair, his accent was that of a well spoken Englishman. The rest of the group behind him burst into applause again, whistling and cheering even louder.
Ellesandra shot a round in the air which caused the group to stop suddenly.
"Who are you?" Nihlus asked sharply, silently approving Ellesandra's impatience.
"Ah." The middle aged man began walking toward them.
"Who decides the day to day market price of Void Opals? Who decides the top speed of ships in a vacuum? Who decides whether Jameson makes it home or not. I'm with them, same group, different department, and my name is David." He bowed as he finished speaking, flashing a disarming smile as he looked at both of them.
"We've been waiting a long time for you, iteration two-seventeen. We almost didn't think you were going to make it but then you surprised us all with your daring rescue!" David spread his arms and the group began applauding once more.
"Come, sit." Said David but Nihlus and Ellesandra didn't move, they were at the limit of the Grey Box tether with the ship.
"I'd rather stand." Stated Nihlus as he unconsciously reached for his missing cigarettes.
"Of course, of course! You are our guest after all." David gestured to the side and Nihlus followed his hand to the albino standing over by the nearest wall. He was now dressed as a waiter and was carrying a silver tray with a glass of whiskey, a box of matches and a fresh packet of Wolfwood's. The albino smiled his freakishly straight smile as Nihlus picked up the pack and wasted no time in screwing one of the crooked cigarettes into his mouth and lighting up.
He left the whiskey and stood blowing tobacco smoke in David's direction as he cocked a hip and placed his hand on his waist. His slender frame was almost hourglass like in its silhouette.
Ellesandra hadn't taken her finger off the trigger or her sights off David this entire time. He smiled at her, she activated incendiary rounds with an effortless flick of her thumb and smiled back condescendingly.
"What is this place?" Nihlus asked.
"This is Grey Box Relay Zero One, the first port of call for all Rebuys. All signals pass through here before being rerouted to their relevant station." David explained with a smile. There was no deception in his voice which rang alarm bells in Nihlus' head, David was clearly confident that he and Ellesandra would never be leaving this place.
"Cut the crap, Dave. Why is the galaxy filled with dead people?" Nihlus threw down the half smoked cigarette and crushed it beneath a well aimed stiletto heel.
"Well it's like this." Began David and the rest of the group eagerly gathered around him.
"Space travel is dangerous, people get lost or hurt or even killed all the time and the cost of performing an actual rescue in deep space is a logistical and financial nightmare." He drank from a wine glass that had materialised on the table and set it down again.
"That's a considerable amount of lost potential revenue. But thankfully, with many years of work we developed a way to cut costs! You know, it's actually cheaper to 3D print a human being than it is to perform life saving surgery on them?" David beamed with his friendly smile again, clearly proud of the work they do here.
"So now, people die but they Rebuy. The insurance covers the ship which is also fabricated, and covers the raw genetic material of our proprietary Med Chambers." The group of suits around him gave a gentle applause and murmured amongst themselves.
"We make sure to remove the memory of death, add a little gentle manipulation so people are less likely to seek answers, and there you have it, a new you! All for a five percent fee to the Pilots Federation."
He finished with a flourish like a shit Flamenco dancer, too white and too middle aged to pull it off. Nihlus was stunned at the simplicity of it all, there was no great conspiracy, just a galaxy wide insurance scam. His mind sunk within itself as though the weight of the Universe's abject disappointment was pushing down on him, crushing his very desire for continued existence. After a very long thirty seconds he lit another cigarette.
"So why the fuck am I here? If we are not supposed to find this place how did I find you?"
"Ah. Well, you see every now and again we have an anomaly in the system whereby someone is conscious during the whole process, from death to rebirth. It isn't supposed to happen but it does, and from that moment on it's only a matter of time before they end up here." David picked up the glass again and drank in delicate sips, clearly unfazed.
"So why the big act? Why not just kill me?" Nihlus glanced over to Ellesandra who was still aiming at David, unwavering and near motionless if not for her deep, steady breaths.
"Kill you? You're one of our top earners! Besides, it doesn't work. The first time it happened, well we killed the poor fellow, permanently. Others came in the following months so we killed them too." David looked sad at the statement and he took another sip, swirling his glass as his thoughts became lost in the deep red liquid.
"That, it turns out, was a mistake. It seems that the Universe demands balance. Call it evolution, call it the cosmic imperative, but life finds a way in the end, so more and more of you Glazers started to turn up at this relay looking for answers." The word caught Nihlus' attention.
"Glazers?" He pressed.
"You people with the pearly eyes, the ones who have seen too much so we have to remove the memories during your subsequent rebuys." David explained with that smile again.
"You see, by killing you the Universe just spits more of you back in our faces. But if we manage you, corral you, keep you in circulation, well it all seems to be working out so far." David stepped forward and produced a small remote control the size of a playing card.
"This is not the first time you and I have had this conversation, Princess."
He pressed a button and a screen on the wall behind Nihlus lit up. The screen was displaying the room they were in now, David was talking to a tall man with thick blonde hair and white eyes. It took Nihlus several moments to recognise himself with grizzled stubble and an ugly scar from the corner of his mouth to his ear, not to mention the complete absence of any make up. Next came another completely different scene, this time Nihlus has red hair and a clan tattoo on his face shooting his way through the station. Nihlus looked over to David who chuckled.
"You'll like this bit." He said and nodded upwards. Nihlus turned back to the screen to see his former, more brutish incarnation beating David into the ground repeatedly until his skull gave way and Nihlus raised his gore covered fists in triumph.
The next scene required explanation so Nihlus turned to David.
"Why is there a woman?" Asked Princess Nihlus.
"Ah, that was Paige's idea." Said David, hanging his head in slight embarrassment.
"Hi!" Came a shrill voice from the back of the room. "Big fan!" She squealed and David winced slightly before moving to explain further.
"There was this crazy notion that your propensity for violence could be curtailed somewhat if, well... ah… if you were a girl."
Ellesandra burst out laughing and brought her gun down for the first time since entering the room. She spent a while bringing her laughter under control and wiped away a tear, then brought the gun back up and faced David.
"Continue." She said, dead serious.
"So we tweaked a chromosome and set you loose, but oh my did you go in a whole other direction my boy! You joined the Imperial navy, became a highly decorated war hero and were promoted so fast even Admiral Denton Patreus took notice!"
Nihlus flinched at the name instinctively, he never knew why but Patreus occupied space always bothered him. David picked up on this straight away.
"Oh, you remember something? This doesn't happen often, please do tell!" David said with childlike excitement.
"Just, a feeling of dread. I'm assuming I made some sort of assassination attempt?" Nihlus postured and shifted his weight to his other hip.
David started laughing.
"To kill him? Oh my sweet Princess, no. You two were lovers! He never forgave you for running off like you did, naughty girl." He was grinning from ear to ear and nodding with absolute sincerity. Nihlus looked back to the screen and shrugged with the corners of his mouth.
"How many times, Dave? How many times have I been here?"
"Seven."
"How many Rebuys?"
"Each time? Between two and three hundred and then we reset you, meat."
Nihlus turned on David who was suddenly very serious, his face was full of scorn and he seemed taller somehow.
"We've entertained you enough, meat." David stalked towards him even closer.
"You exist because the system demands it, you are a necessity in this endless cycle, you are property, you are livestock, cattle, meat." David was right up in Nihlus' face but he couldn't move, paralyzed by some unseen force.
"So do as you're told!" Shouted David with strings of manic spit trailed between his teeth.
"Commander Princess Nihlus, walk forwards!" Ordered David and Nihlus took an uneven step, trying to hold himself back from David's compulsion but only managed to slow himself. The feeling was unbearable, like a marionette being strung along by an invisible hand he shuffled towards the far end of the room, his eyes darted from side to side but his head stayed locked forwards as his muscles and tendons betrayed his will. Another step forward and Nihlus fought it with everything he had but it wasn't enough, he let out a scream but there was no sound. The light on the signal enhancer on his wrist went out, he was out of range, he took another step.
The gunshot entered Nihlus' right shoulder from behind and took him down, the incendiary round burning his flesh and searing the flight suit to his skin. The pain was unbearable and he nearly blacked out. By the time he got his bearings Ellesandra was already putting a fourth round into David's burning face and fire was pouring from his eyes. She turned on the rest of the group and they applauded her politely as she put round after burning round into several of them. She checked her magazine and went to Nihlus who was trying to stand. She hoisted him up by his good shoulder and half dragged him back over toward the door, both of them collapsed the instant his signal booster came back into range. She pulled Nihlus up against the wall.
"Incendiary rounds? Really?" Nihlus managed a smile through the pain and Ellesandra joined him in the hopelessness of it all, smiling with him as she pressed her forehead against his.
They were interrupted as David walked into the room again and looked at his half charred remains.
"Was that really necessary, cargo?" Asked David he stared at her and she could have sworn his eyes blinked sideways.
She looked down at Nihlus, kissed him, and pressed the gun barrel under his chin.
"Get us the fuck out of here, meat."
Nihlus smiled and nodded, Ellesandra pulled the trigger.
"That's not going to help your situation, cargo." Spat David, his voice dripping with animosity. Ellesandra looked to her suit's command panel and set an alarm for three minutes and eleven seconds.
"Maybe not." She stood as she spoke, and slapped another magazine into the rifle.
"But I'll certainly feel better."
. . . . .
Lysa had almost worn a hole in the ship from pacing back and forth, her mother and Nihlus had been gone too long and there had been no data transferred to the ship. She feared the worst.
Without warning half the ship shut down and the QEC lit up, processing data. Lysa went to the screen to analyse the incoming transition but stopped short as the Med Chamber powered up and started the reconstruction process. Lysa was relieved, her mother's safety was all she really cared about at this point. The ships sensors reported heavy gunfire on the station and suddenly she was cloaked in fear. She banged on the unfinished Med Chamber, begging for the person inside to wake up. The gunfire continued and Lysa thumped the Med Chamber again, and a third time.
The locking mechanism unfastened with a heavy clunk and the seals hissed their completion as the chamber opened.
Nihlus stepped out.
"What the hell are you doing?" Screamed Lysa aggressively.
"I told you to get her out first!"
Before she could react Nihlus grabbed her by the throat and pinned her against the bulkhead, growling at her.
"Who are you and what the fuck have you done to my ship?" Nihlus was close enough to taste her, he squeezed harder and Lysa nearly passed but but tried to stay focused. His eyes were almost burning with rage, his face a mere hair's breadth from Lysa's.
"Please." She managed in a whimper.
"My mother, please save her." It took all her remaining strength to get the words out and her body went limp. Nihlus flung her to the floor and glared at her menacingly as he drew his pistol. She swallowed and stared up at the rifling on the absurdly high calibre hand canon.
"Hand me that cigarette." He commanded, pointing at the pack next to the Med Chamber which Lysa retrieved and handed to him, shaking as she did. He took the the pack and backed away into the cockpit, sealing himself in and locking the door.
Lysa was alone once more.
. . . . .
The white room was now red with a lake of blood. David dragged himself by his hands towards the door, and he almost made it.
Ellesandra put a round in each of his elbows drawing a loud shriek as he collapsed. She grabbed him by the hair and pulled his face up to hers, crouching over him and surrounded by bodies.
"Say my name!" She screamed into his face. "Say my fucking name!"
David could barely talk, most of his teeth were smashed and his jaw was broken from having been at the mercy of an enraged Ellesandra. He looked at her and tried to smile that sweet, disarming smile of his but looked more like a glove puppet made out of steak.
"Cargo." He managed to say, still smiling. Ellesandra shot off both of his thumbs and stood on his hand
The timer on her flight suit started to chime, the three minutes were up.
"We'll pick this up another time." She said and turned the gun on herself, pulling the trigger and redecorating the back wall with the contents of her skull. David stared in disbelief, didn't they know that they'll just end up here anyway? David suddenly realised what they were doing and chuckled to himself as he bled out.
"Clever little Princess." He said, and finally expired.
. . . . .
The QEC fired up again almost immediately after Nihlus had locked himself in the cockpit, the Med Chamber began reconstructing Ellesandra from the tethered Grey Box data. Lysa was still shaken from her encounter with Nihlus, he didn't recognise her at all and nearly killed her. If it wasn't for the QEC using half the ship's power Lysa was certain Nihlus would have left already.
A sudden blast of laser fire rocked the ship and knocked Lysa to the ground. The chamber still needed just over two minutes, meaning two whole minutes before power was restored to the thrusters and jump drive. The relay station's minor defences opened up again, nearly draining the shield. One more barrage and the shields would he gone.
Inside the sealed cockpit Nihlus smoked his cigarette, unmoving. His eyes were closed as he took a long pleasurable draw on the noxious tobacco. The ship wouldn't respond with the power being diverted to the cargo hold, and re-diverting it would involve rebooting the whole ship.
"Shields offline." His ship's computer stated with usual boredom. The sensors were still working and Nihlus saw a slow moving white blip heading his way.
A torpedo.
The unshielded Cobra would not survive a blast like that, Nihlus had to think fast. He kicked off his heels and sealed his flight suit with regular boots, then reached back and pulled his emergency helmet over his head and strapped into the pilot's chair. The torpedo was getting closer and closer.
Nihlus pointed his pistol straight at the canopy and fired an armour piercing round, shattering the glass. The sudden decompression forced all the air out of the cockpit along with his second favorite shoes, it wasn't much but it was just enough of a blast to push 'Indifference' out of the torpedo's path at the last second.
"Huh." Said Nihlus with a mixture of relief and surprise as he closed all vents and discharged another ceramic heatsink. He could hear only his own breathing but he could feel an occasional rumble through the seat as the laser cannons on the relay station fired wildly to try and find a target, bouncing stray shots off the hull. The light show was spectacular but there was only one heatsink left and he doubted it would work a second time. Frustration overtook him and he smashed a fist down on the systems panel making the power management screen holographically pop up in front of him. Quickly he shut down the shields altogether, they were gone anyway, and it gave just enough power to the thrusters. With the canopy gone he had no heads up display and no protection, just a barrage of cosmic radiation being barely held at bay by his flight suit.
Ruby red lips twisted into a lopsided grin of crooked yellow teeth as Nihlus took hold of his throttle and flight stick.
The ship accelerated at an impossible rate as Nihlus hit the boosters, barreling towards the relay station. A flick of vertical thrust slid 'Indifference' under the relay station as the ship reached six hundred and fifty metres per second. With a deft flick, twist and pull of the flight stick he had the ship pointing off at an angle and hit the boosters again, cleaving a path along the blind spot of the relay's defense lasers close to the station's hull. There was no time to celebrate the temporary reprieve as two more torpedoes appeared on sensors coming straight at Nihlus. He cut flight assist and turned the ship to face them as the momentum carried him backwards, the sudden change of direction on the last boost had slowed the ship and the torpedoes were gaining, metre by metre.
As if in answer to an unspoken prayer the power to the ship was restored and the Frame Shift Drive began to spool up. Nihlus targeted the first star on the list of systems in range and charged the FSD, turning the ship as it floated through the void and aiming for the destination. The torpedoes were almost on top of him as the ship's computer counted down the jump to hyperspace.
"Four. Three. Two. Engage."
The torpedoes passed harmlessly through a cloud of engine trails and frame shift wake.
. . . . .
The journey back to Vesuvit was long and full of uncertainty for Lysa. After the first few laser blasts she had locked down the Med Chamber and strapped into one of the chairs. The subsequent combination of high speeds and sharp maneuvers had left her disoriented and she blacked out.
She awoke some time later to find the ship still in one piece, the door to the cockpit still closed, and her mother beating on the inside of the Med Chamber. Ellesandra went to chastise her for leaving her in there for so long but stopped when she saw Lysa's face and the bruises on her throat.
Lysa broke down crying as she told her mother what had happened, she honestly thought she was going to die when Nihlus had her up by her throat. He seemed completely different and ready to kill. Ellesandra couldn't believe it but when she told Lysa what had happened aboard the relay it all started to come together.
"How long was he out of range?" Lysa asked her mother.
"I don't know. Ten, maybe twenty seconds?" Ellesandra wasn't sure, she was still trying to process everything she had seen. It didn't seem long enough to have had this level of degradation, but there was no way of knowing exactly what sort of technology was even aboard the relay, it was all front and smoke screens. She didn't want to believe half of it, but worse was the idea the Princess Nihlus was no longer the same man. She only had to look at her daughter though, at the fear in her eyes and the deep purple fingerprints around her neck to realise the brutal truth.
He was gone.
. . . . .
-:Epilogue:-
Departure
They eventually touched down at Vesuvit, Deano and Deavo were waiting in the hanger bay ready to greet the trio but only two stepped off the loading ramp. Lysa walked straight past them and out the hanger bay wanting to put as much distance between her and Nihlus as possible. Ellesandra looked emotionally beaten, her fearlessness replaced with sorrow.
"I lost him." She said quietly to Deano. He put an arm around her as the Grav Loaders emptied the ship of Lysa's equipment and loaded a single small crate into the hold. The door to the cockpit stayed sealed the entire time but Ellesandra refused to leave. The repair drones had mended the hull and replaced the canopy, the hanger bay lights signalled that the landing platform was ready for departure and Deano escorted Ellesandra away despite her protests. The hanger bay elevator raised up the landing pad to the station interior.
The ship launched, disappearing into the void and Ellesandra's knees buckled slightly.
"He'll mend." Said Deano as Ellesandra buried her head in Deano's chest.
"He always does."
. . . . .
Nihlus felt wretched but there was no other way. He would have to carry yet another terrified face with him every time he closed his pupil-less eyes.
There was no other way. She would never be safe, not with him, not out in the black. Not with 'Them' still out there patiently waiting for him to die.
Too many enemies, too many Rebuys.
There was no other way. He kept telling himself that, over and over.
Princess Nihlus lit one of the cigarettes he had brought on board, sat back as the ship drifted unpowered through the black, and remembered her.
He remembered everything.
It was all he could risk allowing himself to keep.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
-:Rebuy:-
-:A Princess Nihlus Fabrication:-