As a side note, this is how I feel when I'm facing down a Security team/ Nuke Ops team.
Lots of soft words, followed by some sharp points and a little emphasis. ---
Lillian unplugged her taser from the charger with a sigh, looking at the bound and buckled Sprinkles. She tried the Security radio one more time, but didn't get a response. So she decided to go take a look for herself. Lillian grabbed the back of the chair and started dragging Sprinkles along, towards the Security wing. The whole time, he was muttering curses and ranting about class warfare.
When Lillian arrived, she found that the emergency Secure Shutters on all the brig cells were shut. The doors had been blown open by crudely fashioned explosives, it seemed. Lillian put one foot on the side of the chair and gave it a solid kick, propelling Sprinkles through the shattered gateway and into the Security wing.
A barrage of laser fire stippled his body, stealing the deranged Clown's life with a flash of intense heat. Lillian tightened her grip on her taser, and started moving forwards. She kept low and close to the wall, trying to stay in the shadows. As she neared the doorway, the unseen gunman had moved up on the dead clown. As she rounded the corner, taser ready, he realized the ruse and turned, energy pistol primed and aimed.
Axl Blyant and Lillian Helsbrecht stood three feet apart, guns aimed at each other. Lillian saw the accoutrements of a Head of Security, but didn't lower her gun. Axl relaxed fractionally when he saw her. "You're loyalty implanted. Thank fuck." He murmured, bringing his gun down to waist level.
Lillian nodded at the clown, "So Head of Security can just murder people now for invading the brig, eh?" Her gun was unwavering, still aimed at Axl's face. He looked at the clown and shook his head ruefully.
"Listen, ma'am. I haven't got time to explain why I did it, but we've got a serious fucking situation on our hands here. Brandon is a fucking bureaucratic airhead, and he's missing all the signs, but we've got a mutiny on our hands." Axl looked around one last time and slipped his pistol into a shoulder holster that was concealed by his armored greatcoat. "The Captain's been abusing his authority and there's something of a volatile element in the crew, mainly the Cargo and Research people. We've only got one Engineer that caused any problems, but the others have captured our Captain's bodyguard and are threatening to kill him."
Lillian shook her head disbelievingly, "Why am I not hearing about this on the radio?"
Axl turned a withering, pitying look on Lillian. "Because straight-radio is down. The engineer that turned? He trashed Telecommunications. All we've got are Station bounced and intercoms."
Lillian sighed and lowered her gun. "Alright. So where do we go looking for these kidnappers?"
Axl shrugged, and gestured for her to follow. She followed him into the Warden's office, then the Armory. Inside was a dead Security Officer, his skull a shattered mess of meat, and a gutshot Forensic Technician with a riot shotgun. He aimed the gun unsteadily at Axl for a moment, then sighed. "Hey boss. Found us some backup? I-" He coughed, and the cough turned into a full body spasm of agony. After a moment, he regained control of himself and continued, "I was watching on cameras, and I think I saw Quatermaster Leech taking the Captain into Maintenance near Atmospherics."
Lillian was listening raptly when a laser gun was roughly thrust into her hands. It was a Mil-Spec 535nm high-yield laser rifle, with a full charge. She slipped the strap over one shoulder and let it dangle by her left flank as Axl and the Tech discussed tactics.
"I really need medical attention. Trey might be a fucking lunatic by our standards, but he's a miracle worker. I won't make it much longer without help."
"Well, we need to rescue the Blueshield too. We fought off their first attack, we need to keep them on the backfoot with a counter attack."
Lillian frowned and said, "Axl, why don't you take this guy to get help? I don't have Medical Access
and I am expendable, whereas you are NOT." She gestured at the dead officer. "And besides, if I go down, you need to get out of here and call in a Response Team, right?"
Axl narrowed his eyes and squared his shoulders, "Are you implying my team isn't up to our job?"
Lillian smiled and nodded slightly. "I'll be south of Atmospherics, sir. I expect you to join me as soon as you are done in the Medical Bay."
---
Lillian shined the big Maglite down the corridor, following a boot print made by a boot covered in motor oil. Oddly enough, the stride passed through a door, then turned abruptly into a wall, like the walker had stepped directly into the wall. Lillian shined her light on the wall for a moment, thinking, then she pushed gently with her free hand.
At first it resisted, but then the wall slid free into a recessed housing and Lillian pushed open the hidden door. Inside was a small room, filled with a variety of implements that could be used to administer what might generously be referred to as surgery. With his back to her was a Miner in a full hardsuit, standing over a black and blue uniformed Blueshield who was covered in blood.
Leech, the miner, was speaking quietly, and holding a screwdriver. "They ain't gonna find you, motherfucker. And even if they did, ain't no cloning gonna fix what I do to you. You dying here today, man."
The Blueshield looked up, past the Miner, his face beaten so badly that one eye was swollen shut. Lillian thumbed the Fire Mode lever from Safe to Lethal - Rapid Fire on the laser rifle, and held it casually pointed at Chase Leech. He turned his head, and she wondered how he knew she was there even in that hardsuit. "Hello officer, I just found this man and was providing assistance."
Leech started to turn, bringing out a gun, but Lillian fired first. Her shot took Leech's right elbow and transformed it into a modern art piece about the frailty of human existence. He dropped the gun he had, and the beleaguered Blueshield shimmied on his back, grabbing the solid-round pistol with his hand-cuffed hands. Leech was screaming in agony, and Lillian kept the gun pointed at him as she moved into the room, uncuffing the Blueshield.
He stood, and a presence filled the room. "Comrade Helsbrecht. Comrade Kuznetsov. There is no need for you to fight us. We could all work together, for the Greater Good..."
Lillian turned to face... An old man in hooded black robes, loosely holding an obsidian rod with one hand. He nodded at her curtly, then continued speaking, "I am Dimitri Bolshevik, and I wish to offer you a chance not many are given. I am offering you the chance to choose your own future. Not to persist under the thumb of some Mega-Corporation."
He moved into the already small room as Chase sank to the floor, falling into shock. Dimitri kept a safe distance from the two armed crew, instead checking Chase's pulse gently. He said, "I think you will find that our dear Captain Johnson is a megalomaniac, a fool, and a danger to this station. Please just give me a reasonable chance."
Behind him, a Cargo Technician and a Scientist flanked the doorway armed with strange, updated revolver-tasers.
Lillian held her gun loosely, and said, "Listen, I'm all for peace and understanding and free love, but things have gone a bit far. The clown tried to rape and murder me earlier, and Chase was about to murder this poor guy. Let's all just go to the brig and get things sorted out."
The Cargo Tech raised his gun, and Lillian reacted. She fired two shots, one flash-frying the Cargo-Tech's face, the next sparking harmlessly off the wall next to the scientist. Dimitri stood unmoving, still holding his symbol of office, as gunfire went off around him.
After a few moments of gunfire, the Blueshield and both revolutionaries were dead, and Lillian was uninjured, as was Dimitri. She turned to point her gun at him, and he smiled coldly, his dark eyes intense and brooding. "Miss Helsbrecht, you appear to have made a tactical mistake. This isn't a gunfight..."
The Null Rod lashed out, catching the laser rifle in the middle and knocking it flying. Lillian whipped out a metal cylinder about five inches long and maybe an inch in diameter, and flicked her wrist. The metal collapsed out, forming a medium-length baton of hard steel. She swept her baton across, deflecting Dimitri's first swing, but he body-checked her as she recovered.
Lillian fell to the ground and Dimitri lashed out with his Null Rod. She raised an arm to block and the bone snapped with a gruesome crunch as Dimitri broke her arm. He raised his Null rod again, and Lillian fell back, too weak to fight, as it descended towards her face.
---
To be continued
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Topic: The Lillian Helsbrecht Story (Read 28614 times)