Monday 15 August 2011

No Greater Love.....


Carmilla Deritan stood in the window of Ithiria's apartment and looked out over the bustling city below. Her fists where clenched, clad in white silken gloves, and once more she punched the window, the anger seeping through, building as it flowed. For anyone looking into the window, the image of a geisha in a pure white kimono punching the window would have looked vaguely surreal. She spun around and walked with small steps over to the breakfast bar and sat back on the stool. Victor pushed over a cup of coffee he had brewed.

"Here sis, cup of blue shade, just as you like it."
She took it and sippped, sighing and sitting on the stool, looking at the multiple computer screens. The sigil of the Khanid Security Force filled the screens and the various hacking programs were burrowing into were slowly churning out information. Victor tapped away steadily and smiled, tapping on the screen.
"There, we are in."
Carm pointed at various menues and they sifted through the information. To difficult to get some of the details, check what they forget to hide. Entry stamps, every room identifies who enters, filtered down and put into a datadump. Easier to check than the holographic files. Rough day... got you. Entry at four seventeen, door, door, door, time passes, another door, time passes. Names on the doors.....
"Inquisitor Tomak Kasid. Room 317. "
Victor looked in and tapped a few keys.
"And here is the location. Danera III, Moon 3. The Khanid Transport Storage. Is that right? Must have patched the wrong file....."
"No. It's one of the offices of the Khanid Security Force. Come on Victor, you can fly me there. We'll need a hotshot pilot to get out of there once I do what I have to."
"Carm, if you even get in I'll be surprised if you don't get shot, arrested, tried and shot again."
"Oh I'll be fine......."
The voice by Victors ear was a whisper, but unmistakable. He turned and looked at a memory of the old days he'd hoped he'd not see again.
".... she's not going in alone."
"You remember 'Little Snake'.
Victor looked at the silver eyes of the twisted clone of Carmilla, the one he knew when she had been Gallicia's favorite. He couldn't help but shudder and she smiled at him.
"Helllllooo Victor. Been a long time."

Several hours later Ithiria Deritan opened the door to her apartment and walked in, a servant behind her carrying an armful of boxes and bags. Shrugging off her robes she walked into the bedroom and looked around, not seeing what she expected. With a frown she walked from room to room and ended up back in the living room. Then she noticed the computers. The servant picked up her robe and scurried around as Ithiria sat down, flinching slightly and looked at the screens. Major Kasids itinery for the next week was on display. A leaden feeling hit her stomach.
"Computer. Access location. Deritan, Carmilla...... Khanid region, pinpoint search."
"Searching.....", the voice of the computer soft, "Subject, Deritan, Carmilla, located. Danera III..."
She looked at the computer screens with a pang of sadness and a wry smile as she knew where Carm was going. However, there was something she had to do.
"Computer, place a call to Major Kasid, Khanid Security Force. "
The call took five minutes to patch in, five minutes too long she thought as she watched the screen. Eventually the scowling face of Major Kasid filled the screen.
"You again? Why have you...."
"My dear.... My wife is on her way to see you. I do not believe it is a social call....."

Major Kasid stabbed the cigarette out and looked at the security screen. It made no sense. No sense at all. Why by the sacred moons would Ithirias wife be coming here? Here? Because of the punishment Ithiria recieved? She pulled up everything she had on her, the file was extensive. But, as with everything, some things get overlooked. She reached over and dialed a number on the comm unit and waited til it was answered.
"We are getting a visitor, someone coming to see me. When she arrives I want a full tactical unit on standby. Just in case."
"Name of the vistor, Ma'am?"
"Carmilla Deritan. Detain her, alive. I dont think she is here for any mischief, probably just stand up for her wife. But if there is any problem, I want her put down. Alive."
"Affirmative, chief."
Lighting another cigarette she looked at the file again. Then closed it and checked her itinerary. And for the second time that day looked puzzled.
"Geisha?"

The door to the Khanid Transport Storage office opened and a Geisha walked slowly through the corridors until she came to a stop. Outside the door two guards looked at her, one holding out his hand as the other gave her a once over from behind his visor. She was tall, but clad in a fetching peach kimono, bound with a white belt. A thin black floral design wound it's way around. Her hair was pulled back into a long queue and held in place by a number of long decorative pins, each with a different sigil. Her face was purest white, lips the most vivid red, and deep blue eyeshadow which blended to opalescence. The guard took the identi-card that was offered and slotted it into his console.
"Geisha, appointment with Major Kasid. Ten minutes early....."
"Call it in. Sounds suspicious. Wasn't that the name we had to look out for?"
He looked at the identi-card again and shook his head as he interrogated the KSF system.
"Close, but no. This is Carmilla D'morenta, registered Geisha out of Seshala. Security checks are a little dated, but still in order."
The 'little snake' smiled and bowed courtesly as she took back her card and walked through the doorway, to the sound of weapon sensors activating. The guards reacted, weapons up and pointing at her, fingers slightly depressing the firing studs.
"Stand still. Do not move! You have a weapons violation and are subject to arrest and detainment under law..... now turn around slowly."
She turned and very slowly removed from an inner pocket two lengths of metal. The guards looked on, weapons not lowering.
"If I may.... these are really harmless....."
The snake slowly opened the two fans, the metal of the vanes etched with styalised khanid symbology, black on one side, white on the other.
"It is my clients prefered dance. Of course I will leave these here and you can inform her why I do not have them."
Clicking them back into place she offered them both to the nearest guard, who lowered his weapon. He tapped onto the console and then gestured with his head.
"We'll be informing the Major. Next time inform us."
She bowed lower and smiled as she moved into the complex. Behind her she heard the guards talking on a comm unit.

Above them, in one of the ventilation ducts Carmilla Deritan listened and smiled as well. Checking her wrist comp she grimaced, time was short and she had to be there quickly. With a final snip of wire she disabled the sensor pads for the section of ducting and slipped her tools back into her pouch then scampered onwards, the mental map of where she was going still clear.

The knocking on the door to Major Kasid's office was light and she almost missed it. Doing up the top button on her tunic she opened the door and looked up. A geisha stood in the doorway.
"Do I have permissssion to enter?"
"Yes," she said wearily,"God knows I could use some distraction while we wait for this damn woman. Show me these fans. My guards said they set off the weapon alarms."
She walked over to the geisha, a pistol on her hip and a sword belt slapping against her leg. Taking the fan offered she hefted it and opened it with difficulty. Behind her, she heard her terminal ping a message, by the tone an important one.
"It's heavy, you dance with this?"
"Oh yesss, most beautifully. I have been sent to entertain you, for the next hour my only purpose is to make you relax."
Looking at the geisha she handed back the fan and walked back to her desk, eyes looking at her flashing terminal.
"Thank you, but no thank you. I have far to much to do to be encumbered by a Geisha. Please thank whoever it was who sent you....."
"You missunderstand....."
She jumped, the words were whispered right by her ear. Turning sharply she saw the geisha right beside her, then noticed the eyes and the malevolance behind them. Her hand reached for her weapon then stopped as she was aware of a line of razor sharp pain at her neck. One of the fans had been opened silently and was at her neck.
"You kill me and you will never leave this station alive. My men will hunt you down and destroy your line."

'Little snake' writhed as she laughed and pushed the major towards the table and back into her chair. The heavy fan never left her neck as she reached over and pulled the pistol out and placed it on the table along with her sword. The terminal bleeped again and she peered into the screen.
"It seemsss a sensor grid is offline in the interogation quadrant. They want to know what to do about it.... dont they have any common senssse?"
"What is it you want?"
"Only to keep you here. Distracted. Away from.... other people. If you behave, you will live through the night."
The terminal bleeped again. The little snake glared at it, as if wishing it would go away.
"If I dont answer it ten of my best will be through that door in under a minute... then I'll find out why you are really here!"

Carmilla Deritan cursed as the current shot through her arm, the sensor grid shorting out. Biting back the scream as her arm went dead. If she hadn't already deactivated the alarms properly then guards would be kicking in the ducting ahead and filling the area with nuerazine gas. Pulling out the small map she looked at it again and started moving, faster this time. Stopping at a grate she flexed her arm and looked into the room. A man was there standing over a woman tied to a table. Her back was covered in welts from a neuro lash. Memories of the other day flashed into her mind, she snarled. All thought of caution fled from her mind, all she could hear were the screams of the woman, muffled by the grate and the sound of the lash. In her mind, they were Ithiria's.

The terminal started flashing at the same time as an alarm sounded. The little snake simply made a hissing sound while the Major had a look of triumph on her face. In the corridor beyond they could both hear the sound of heavy boots running towards them.
"You are lucky, she asked me not to kill anyone. So consider yourself very lucky!"
She brought the other fan around and slammed it into the back of Kasids head and by the time the body slumped to the table she was already over it and standing in the middle of the room, posed with her fans open. The door slid back and the guards rushed in, weapons pointed at her, their shouts to get on the floor were a cacophony and slowly she turned to them, and the weapons pointed at her. And laughed.

In room 317 Inquisitor Tomak Kasid, naked to the waist and dripping with sweat from the interogation looked up as the grating was forced from the wall above and shot across the room. A feral scream could be heard and a woman leapt from the hole, rolling as she hit the floor and coming up, a sword in her hand and the scabbard in the other. For a moment the look of intense hatred on her face made him take a few steps back. The only sound in the room, the alarm that sounded in the corridor outside the room, the sobbing of the traitor he was interogating and the breathing of the woman infront of him.
"Tomak Kasid. Before I leave here today you will appologise for the way you treated my wife. If not, you will never leave here."
He sneered at her and dropped the neuralwhip and walked over to the rack on the far wall.
"You must be Carmilla Deritan. I was told to expect your arrival, by your wife no less. She said you would not be here for a social visit."
"No one beats my wife and gets away with it."
"Ha! You are nothing but a slave. And slaves are beaten for forgetting their place, and you here, threatening me? That is you forgetting your place. By the time I have finished with you you'll be begging to be put back in the slave pens."
He pulled a long thin sword from the rack and bent the blade almost double before swishing the air with it. Carmilla dropped her bag and ran at him, a single scream coming from her mouth and she leapt at the inquisitor, sword behind her.


Ithiria Deritan walked into the Khanid Transport Storage in Danera III flanked by her paladins. Security around the entire station had been trippled. Guards checked her identity at almost every doorway. As she looked around she could see technicians sealing duct access panels, guards at every corridor. Smiling inwardly she was brought to the room of Major Kasid, where she looked on in shock. The room was a mess, it hardly seemed like the room she was brought to just a few days ago. Most of the furniture was damaged, the walls and floor were blood spattered and the signs of emergency medical action were apparent. Major Kasid herself was being treated by a medtech.
"I want her, Ithiria. I want them both. That fucking Geisha and your wife. I want them here, for punishment. Hell I may even put them on trial for what they did."
"Hello Major. Had some problems?"
The major stood up and staggered, walking around the desk and getting herself in Ithirias face.
"You bitch, you dare talk like that? If I find out that you knew what happened here and did nothing to stop it...."
Ithi narrowed her eyes and pushed the Major back, her tone cold and angry.
"First off, I warned you. I told you what was going to happen, that my wife was coming here. I don't know who she brought with her, but you were warned!"
"Warned... of your wife yes! Not the geisha. Ten men, all armed... now all in hospital. My husband in hospital thanks to your wife, beaten to within an inch of his life. Charges will be made Ithiria! We do not tolerate such things here!"
"Indeed we do not," Ithiria smiled and laughed at her, "We do not tolerate such failure as yours. You can be glad, Captain, that you are just being demoted. You not only allowed this facilty to be infiltrated when you were warned of it, but you allowed vital officers to be wounded and placed out of action. Soldiers put out of action. The security of this place is a farce. This is no longer your office. Go to your husband, the KSF will inform you of your new posting, if you are lucky you'll be checking Amarr slave hulks for health and safety violations!"
The Major, now demoted to a Captain looked on, the anger in her fading, the realisation of her failure dawning on her. Without fuss she removed the insigina of rank and dropped it on the table, looked at Ithiria as she settled behind her desk then walked out of the room.
"Carmilla," she whispered to herself, "You are in serious trouble when I see you next."
One of the guards walked over to her, limping, her face wrapped in a bandage under her helmet. The one beside her wearily looking around at the others in the office.
"Did you expect me to do any less? My love?"
Ithiria did not even look up from the desk, just reached out her hand and touched the guard.
"No. I suppose not. Paladin, take these two guards to my ship, get them out of here. I'll follow shortly."
"Ithi...."
"No Carm. That is an order. Disobey me and I'll have you strapped on that table. Both of you, and don't think I wont' do it."
She looked up at Carm, wondered about the bandage and then looked at the other guard.
"Little Snake. I should have know."
"I didn't kill anyone, Ithiria..... I sssshould have though."
"Carm, get Kim to look at your head. What did you do?"
"Tomak really was good with his sword. Maybe he will be again, once his hands heal."
She sighed and waved her hand away and looked at the terminal. When she looked up, they were gone. Inwardly she smiled. Such a wife. Such a slave. And such a punishment she will recieve.







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