Is your name in this story? N? You're fine. Y? You're probably going to die -very- badly.
Tangled Skein
Lillian put the final touches on the knot on her boot, then stood up and tugged at the edges of her armor where it had ridden up when she'd crouched. Her arm had healed nicely and quickly, and though she had a short scar on her flank now from the knife-wound, it had also healed without incident.
She slung on a black webbing vest this time, and slid a crowbar, a station bounced radio, a pair of earmuffs, a flashbang, and an extra pair of handcuffs into the pockets and catches. She looked over the table in the Security Muster Area at Jericho Delagrad, her first shift partner in Security, alongside Axl Blyant, who was long-standing Head of Security on 13, and the (recently replaced) Forensic Technician Malachi Kelly. They were standing around with coffee and donuts, chatting about solid-state weapons over energy weapons.
Jericho said, "Yeah, I like me a good shotgun, but you can't argue with the perfect accuracy and precise lethality of a good laser rifle."
Axl smiled and said, "I tend to agree with Jericho, on-station at least." He started ticking points off his fingers, "Lasers fire in space, through windows, and they don't cause hull breaches unless you act like an idiot. The wounds they leave don't bleed hardly at all, and most armor only absorbs the initial blast, not the radiating heat. Even if you're wearing armor, it will scorch a large patch of flesh."
Malachi nodded sagely, and said, "I'll agree with all these points. Let me make some of mine. Bullets stay in the wound, causing additional damage after the first wound. They break, tear, and shred vital internal organs, bones, and blood vessels. They DO make you bleed, which is good for tracking and stuff. And most guns fire in space, but they have a higher tendency to jam. I'll concede that point to you. But you only have to hit someone ONCE with a bullet in space, as it will rupture their suit."
Lillian smiled and said, "Alright, what about melee weapons. Shock-Maul or Telebaton?"
Axl said, "Telebaton." While Jericho and Malachi simultaneously said, "Shock-Maul." They looked at each other and also simultaneously said, "Jinx. Fuck. Hey!" Everyone dissolved into laughter for moment, then Axl wiped his grin off and said, "Alright, kids, let's get to work. Shift starts now. Jericho, go wander around Medbay and RnD. Watch out for the new clown. He's got a good repertoire of tricks. Lillian, go watch Cargo, Atmospherics, and Engineering. Malachi, stay here in Security when you can. We need someone to man the desk. I'll be wandering the core of the station, the Bridge, and the Escape Wing. Stay safe, use your gorram radio, and check in on your interval or I'll kick your ass myself."
---
Two hours later, Lillian was wandering the halls still, strongly considering some Cheesie Honkers, when she turned the corner to be face-to-lower-rib-cage with an absolutely enormous man, with an even more enormous... Bright orange afro.
She looked up. And up. And up. And he looked down. "Hi." He said warmly. "I'm Axel."
Lillian nodded, "I'm Lillian Helsbrecht. Nice to meet you, Axel." She took a step back so she wasn't craning her neck to look at him. "You're the largest man I think I've ever met."
"Yeah. I was always bigger than other people." He shrugged eloquently. "Genetics."
Lillian nodded again, feeling like a bobble-head. "You're a Cargo Tech, huh?" She said, indicating his rank indicators and jumpsuit color. He nodded back, the top of his afro brushing against one of the long fluorescent lights in the ceiling.
"Yep. It's me, about four other new Cargo hires, and the Quartermaster. He's a bit of a jerk, so once I finished moving all the crates, I volunteered for scav-duty." His rounded, ruddy features beamed happily.
Lillian cocked her head curiously, "What's scav-duty?"
"Oh, there's always lots of crates left in Maintenance, or in Engineering closets and stuff. We get reimbursed for returning them to Central Command, so we have to go out and collect them. I'm the only one that can just pick up and carry three empty crates, so QM likes it when I do it." Axel said proudly.
Lillian's eyes widened behind her Sec-HUDglasses, but she smiled outwardly. "Wow. Those crates are pretty heavy, you know." A little bit of data scrolled across her HUD. "... An empty metal crate like NT uses usually weighs like eighty pounds. And you can just. Carry around three of them."
Axel nodded. "That's good right?"
Lillian opened her mouth to reply when her headset crackled, "
This is Jericho. I've got... I've got something here. Maintenance between Medbay and RnD, Junction 21C, the storage room near there. Oh. Please fucking hurry, I'm creeped the fuck out."
"
Change your panties, Officer Delagrad. You are a trained Se-" Axl was, astonishingly, cut off right then.
"
Respectfully, sir, fuck you. You aren't seeing this. Get. The. Fuck. Down. Here. For. The. Love. Of. God." A pregnant silence filled the radio, and Lillian waved at Axel, then turned and ran. She was a good runner, and very proud of it. Back on Antioch, she'd run in marathons on occasion, and ran or walked everywhere. She passed the Central hallway, then entered a Maintenance shaft.
She brought out her sec-lite, running in the darkness, reading wall-signs as she passed. She came around a corner to see light at the next bend, and she could hear familiar voices. She kept running, drawing her taser. She skidded around the corner, and to an abrupt halt at the sight before her.
Axl and Jericho stood in one corner of the storage closet. In the other corner were three lockers, each one opened to reveal three... Corpses. They were recognizable as human remains, but that was the extent of their familiarity. Each one was dried out, dessicated. Almost mummified. Jericho jumped a little as she turned the corner, but Axl just waved her over.
Lillian's PDA pinged suddenly. She flushed, embarrassed, but Axl waved at her again. "Go ahead. They aren't going anywhere, and we all need a minute. I gotta go back to Security to get Malachi. You two rope off this area and I'll tell the Captain to tell all Maintenance crew to avoid this area on pain of chemical mace." He started to turn, then looked back, "Those bodies... They're fresh. Within a few days at least."
Jericho said, "How do you know that?" As Lillian opened her messages and checked it. It was Axel. 'hay hope u rnt mad at me 4 some raisn. U seem nice.
'
Lillian replied, 'No, no. I was njoyin the talk but work called. I'll TTYL when this is done. It's FREAKY!!! Keep out of Maint in Sections 19b-22e'
'kk thnx'
Axl was saying, "Look at the blood at the bottom of the lockers." Then he vanished into the darkness.
---
Fifteen minutes later, Malachi was scanning the entire compartment with a portable Forensic Scanner. He worked swiftly and efficiently, taking pictures, making notations, stuffing items into evidence bags, and generally managing the crime scene. He was almost done, and Lillian and Jericho were grateful to be out of Maintenance soon, when a new light came around the corner.
"Officers, explain the situation." Captain Flickenger and his Blueshield came around the corner. He took one look at the bodies, and waved their explanations off. "Nevermind. I can see that no one is likely to know much about this before the tests are done." Behind him came two Medical Doctors. They waited patiently to one side with a bevy of body bags and a curious cart apparently designed to carry eight bodies on two racks of four. "Once Malachi gets his results and the autopsies are complete, then we'll all meet in the Head of Staff Meeting Room and discuss it. Officers, return to patrol. I'll stay with Malachi and the Doctors." He patted a laser pistol belted to his hip.
Lillian and Jericho walked away in the dark, swapping theories. "Maybe it was a Xenoarcheological artifact or something?" Lillian suggested.
Jericho shook his head. "Why would they be stacked all neat like that in maintenance then? Wouldn't they have been IN RnD somewhere?"
They came to a door, and Lillian opened it for Jericho. The Research Director Horatio Oppenheimer was walking by, a distracted look on his weathered face. He was a big man of about sixty years, with neatly combed white hair and a neatly buttoned labcoat. He passed almost completely by the pair of Officers before Jericho said, "Good morning sir. Can you take a look at my right arm later? It's been clicking again."
Horatio stopped, his eyes blank, and looked at Jericho. "Erm. What?"
Jericho eyed him curiously, "Uh, my arm. You know, it's been clicking again. When I rotate it at the shoulder. I need you to open it up and repair the actuator again."
Horatio nodded. "Right, of course. Sorry, I was thinking about my treatise on Deliberate Quantum Biological Interactions." Jericho nodded blankly, but Lillian cocked her head curiously.
"What is that?" She asked, somewhat blithely.
Horatio smiled warmly at her and said, "Well, you seem, at the quantum level, everything is different. It's so small that the normal laws of physics don't quite apply. I was specifically dealing with the fundamentals of Biology at that level, and how a sentient might consciously cause interactions at the quantum level. It has a vast variety of uses, if my theories are correct. From cellular regeneration to autonomic production of medicines or chem-"
Jericho said, "Whoa doc. We're cops. This sounds a little out of our league." He nudged Lillian. "We gotta get back on patrol anyways."
Horatio frowned, disappointed, but he nodded and carried on his way.
---
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Topic: The Lillian Helsbrecht Story (Read 28641 times)