Sunday 13 February 2011

Jail Break


Angelina held the crying girl in her arms watching the guards leaving, all laughing. They had each taken turns on them both, no doubt while she watched. She didn't mind them doing it to her, but the girl was breaking because of it. And that had to change. And it would today.

She knew from their routine that they had just started a shift pattern. One of them watching while the other two did whatever it was they did. It was now or never, god help me.

She cradled Fazilas head in her arms and whispered in her ears, then looking at the guy in the doorway she snapped her neck quickly. The guard leapt to his feet cursing and ran to the door opening it and firing his tranq at her. He watched as she fell and he ran down, pulling them apart. His brain didn't connect that the dart was sticking in Fazila's side until Angelina hit him, knocking him back and ripping his knife from it's sheath, and stabbing him in the throat. She watched him die and pulled his belt off, wrapping it aroudn her own waist, reducing it to fit and checking the mag in the pistol. As the second guard ran in she shot him in the face and the third in the knee cap, watching him fall to the floor and put a round into his eye socket. Far off she could hear an alarm sounding.

Marika stormed back into her office and sat down, bringing up the security footage from Angelinas cell. Several guards were with her, weapons ready.
"How could this have happened? There were three armed guards there!"
"We think the first guard paniced when he saw her kill the girl."
"She... did... what?"
"She killed the slave known as Fazila. Snapped her neck."
Underestimated her again. How cold is this woman.
"Find her. Bring her to me. Dead or alive!"

As she passed them she opened the cells of the other prisoners. Most couldn't or wouldn't move, but some, the pirates and the minmatar stormed ahead of. Every guard they killed they lost three, but they were paving the way. As the prisoners rode the elevator to the next level up she climbed the structural units. Level after level she climbed until reaching the roof. As she stopped there and waited, sitting on the highest bar to rest she watched the first elevator drop to the ground, then the second one. Until it was repaired no one would be going up or down. An elevator door to her left opened up and a guard looked down at the elevator and turned into the room. She shot him in the back of the head and swung into the door and came up gun blazing. Guards and office workers fell. Grabbing a larger gun from the nearest guard she blazed away at the security camera's and jumped down at a terminal. A few frantic commands and she pulled up a schematic of the floor she was on. Hearing the sounds of boots running towards he she raised her rifle and fired til the power cells ran out.

"How the hell did she get to the top level? I thought I told you to seal off the elevators?"
"We did, she must have climbed up."
"Impossible! She's been starved, brutalised, and raped daily. Should be a quivering wreck like the other slave!"
"Well... she's not."
"Seal off all exits. Any ships docked get them up into the air. And get that battleship in orbit. I'll raze this facility before I see her escape!"

The pilot and co-pilot boarded their shuttle as they watched the pressure doors close leading into the hanger bay and as soon as they signalled they were ready the bay was depressurized.
"Wonder what's going on."
"Probably just another drill. Damn, I'll have to check the seals on the garbage disposal, something reeks here."
A voice at the edge of his hearing caused him to turn around and he looked into the pitted barrel of a large pistol.
"You would too after weeks of torture."
Before he could open his mouth to scream the bullet tore half of his face apart, the second shot taking out his co-pilot, her brains spattered across the console. Angelina pulled the bodies out and sat in the chair and looked out the window and saw something that made her smile.

On board the armageddon 'Denial of Reason' the bridge crew watched the last shuttle board and then pulled away from the docks. Deep in the core the pod of the capsuleer who flew the ship was plugged into everything. But, this was an older model ship and half of the security cameras never worked. Even so, no one noticed the blonde pilot who walked away from the shuttle and headed towards the engineering deck.

"I dont care! Seal off the command centre, blow the seals on the compound, I want hard vacuum in every room except this one! I want her dead!"

Several lights lit up in the pods display as the capsuleer noticed a problem in engineering. Neurons flashed as commands were sent but not actioned. The security camera's in the engineering block were showing static. Core temperature across the ship was falling and oxygen levels were also dropping. Sirens and warning symbols were flashing up across the board as hatches were opened to space venting atmosphere, airtight doors were opened through the entire ship. Howling winds dragged everything and everyone out into space. In a matter of minutes the entire ship was cold. Isolated pockets of life forms were showing up on internal sensors until they too went offline.

Something moved through the corridors, a hulking white shape that walked methodically towards the centre of the ship. It stopped next to a door marked danger and opened it, stepping inside and pulling out a cutting torch and attacking a wall.

In the pod the capsuleer look around trying to work out what was going on. Systems were going dead, access was being taken away piece by piece. A systematic cascade failure of all systems was happening... then it noticed the heat. A patch on the pod wall was warm, then hot, then glowing red, white then exploded into fire. The beam from the cutting torch seared the fluid in the pod, warnings flashed of pod breach and pod fluid was draining from the hole.

Angelina looked at the pod through the zero-g suit as the last of the pod goo boiled away into the vaccuum. She didn't have to look at the capsuleer to know it was dead. Grimly she made her way down to the hanger bay and back into the shuttle.

Down in the command centre Marika watched as the armageddon began to fall out of orbit. Few heard her scream as the ship impacted and exploded several miles away, but still close enough to crack the glass in the command centre.

The shuttle crash landed on one of the islands of a planet in the Seshala system. She lay on her back on the beach, starved, dehydrated and suffering from several broken bones. Water lapped up at her as the high tide reached her and but for the strong arm of someone pulling her further up the beach she would eventually have drowned. A boot flipped her over and opening her eyes in the light she saw a shadow stand over her, with two heavily armed guards behind her. A spike boot rested against her throat, pressing down making her retch and feebly grab at the leg.
"Well well well. Angelina Ballentyne. Now this is a surprise."
She coughed unable to breath and the light started to fade in her eyes, but not before she recognised who was standing on her throat. As she slipped into unconsciousness she heard the voice, recognised it, and dread filled her bones.
"It's about time you returned to me," proclaimed Ithiria Deritan,"Though I'm sure you would have wished it was your sister who found you. Now my dear, you are mine. And I'm damn well going to keep you."
Ithirias mocking laugh was loud in her ears as she passed out.

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