Chapter 24: Chapter 10 – Control Contest

Chapter 10 – Control Contest

Aboard the DA Controlled Strike-craft

“You gotta lay off the pies, Diego. UGH!” He huffed and puffed, making his way down the main corridor of the ship with the unconscious Diego slumped over his shoulders. Removing his helm, he had milky white scales and cold blue eyes, a slightly eel like muzzle despite the draconic heritage: with no ears or hair but a single fin running the length of his head and down his neck and with a lean but athletic body.

Scyler wiped his brow of sweat and panted loudly, locking heavy, square looking metal shackles around his wrists and feet, he then heaved Diego up and placed him against the wall within the room. The mag locks clicked into place and Diego was left suspended, pinned cleanly by many thousands of amps worth of electro-magnetic current running through the wall behind him.

“That ought to keep you locked up until we touch down.” Scyler took a step back and watched as the thin see-through film around Diego's head moved in time with the males breathing, the collar currently set to allow air in, although he was still unconscious. Across from Diego, a small human male with wispy blonde hair and dressed in baggy, tattered clothes was pinned in the same way and was staring as Scyler with deep concern.

“Oh don't worry you, we're almost there now! Just a little-”

Scyler's sentence was cut off by the sound of the door sliding open behind him, making him spin on the spot to see who else was aboard the ship.

“J-Jace! What are you doing here?!” Scyler coughed out in surprise

A large, muscular male draconic figure stepped into the sterile looking prison ward. He had dark chocolate leathery skin, with various black spots and tear-drop shaped markings on his body and face, mahogany eyes with a slight hint of cherry red in the clinical light of the room. He made eye contact with the stumbling white dragon and then the human male behind him.

His hair was black but greying slightly at the tips, slicked back and short. His slightly greying face plates gave him an older look than Scyler, but right now, he was looking significantly unimpressed. Clad in a heavy chest plate and advanced scale male armour across his limbs and legs, he glared at Scyler again upon seeing Diego's unconscious form on the wall.

“I need you to explain what is going on here. Now.” Jace spoken sternly and focused his steely gaze onto Scyler's smaller, milk coloured form.

“I am completing my mission objectives.” He replied, eyes narrowing.

“Really? Explain to me how two assault craft full of DA soldiers leave the hanger but only you come back?”

“I-”

“-Explain to me why a prisoner who was released from prison three months ago is still locked to the mag wall. Explain to me why to disobeyed direct orders to return to command after Pravus squad gets incinerated. Explain to me why you're actively harassing and preying on Nomad's in the middle of nowhere- What are you even doing now? Is this Coralith Komodo the original target?” Jace's temper slowly rose as he spoke but he steadied himself visibly.

“What I'm doing with the Nomad's has nothing to do with the Royal Military Division. This is XITD business, strictly. And I single handedly captured the initial target of the smash and grab as well, after squad Pravus's tragic loss. So yes, this is the original target.” Scyler scoffed.

“We never should have gone after him in the first place. He's not even attempted to cross DA borders, this is firmly within Nomad space. I wonder why you pushed to hard to get the capture order signed off in the first place.”

“Because I have a big ol' man crush on the handsome hunk and I want him safely back in DA space.” Scyler shook his head dismissively, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Mhmm. Better not be any filthy, Dynasty business. I've read the transcripts of your communications by the way. You're scum. Beyond that, blackmailing that Nomad girl to get her to do what you wanted here? Is that the only way you can get anyone to do anything for you? She's been sending that human letters every single week since he was taken in. Were you even planning on reuniting her with her husband?”

In the background, the human eyes lit up open and he started listening a lot more closely.

“What does that matter to you?”

“It matters to me greatly. Prisoners who've served their sentence are to be released, Scyler. Not kept as a tool to blackmail people. This person has done their time, we agreed to release them. We should keep our word.”

“Oh please. This fine gentlemen's extended incarceration has given me vital data on a brand new and potentially extremely dangerous corruption that's infecting Nomad space. He's a hero. I couldn't have done it without him.”

“So that's what this is about?” Jace raised an eyebrow.

“Yes. Fine. You got it out of me. It's highly classified business at this present time and I won't be divulging further details.”

“Were you going to release him?” The larger dragon motioned towards the human on the wall again.

“What does it matter? He's just some Nomad.”

Jace winced and shook his head.

“You know, the DA is trying to repair its reputation with the Nomads and its people like you who set us back every time.” The larger dragon raised his gauntlet up and tapped on it, deactivating the mag locks with a *thunk* from the human, who dropped off the wall and handed shakily on his feet.

“Excuse me!? What do you think you're doing with my resource?”

“You have no authority over this person and keeping him against his will is kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment. Effective immediately, you are relieved of your duties as a soldier of the Draconic Alliance Royal Military Division. I will be returning this person to Barru X and then returning you and this other unfortunate prisoner back to the DA. Seeing as he was a RMD contract, the Coralith Komodo is under my jurisdiction now.” As he spoke, Jace marched forward and gently guided the somewhat shaky human out of the room, his forearm almost as thick as the poor man's torso. “I don't know what exactly your plan was for the new guy but I'm sure as hell not letting it happen.”

“NO! That's... Fine. Fine. I still have authority as an agent of the XITD and this ship is under my command. You want to play that game, Jace? So let it be. I'd reconsider whether or not you really want to put him on that station anyway, its about to suffer quite the meltdown.”

“What exactly are you referring to?”

“That corruption I was talking about, the primary perpetrators are on their way to the station to wrap up some personal business and they have an ultra-class pyro psyker. She was who killed Pravus squad and my team.”

“Does her arrival here have anything to do with you?” Jace asked, his steely demeanour turning even more serious.

“I have data to collect, the future of the DA may depend on it.” Scyler matched Jace's temperament but it was difficult to tell if he was mocking him or not.

“There's always a reason with you. When we get back, I'll see to it that you are prosecuted to the maximum extent of the law for this, Scyler. You understand? You cannot just lure ultra-class psyker's around to murder Nomad's for fun.”

“I didn't do it for fun. I'm building a report, the psyker turning up is just... bad luck.” He appeared a little more genuine in his last statement.

“You are finding it fun though. I can tell, you've got that awful smirk every time you talk about it.”

“Go play hero, Jace. I have one other objective to complete before we depart. I suggest you make your drop off quick.”

*

Back within Barru X – Within the mall lobby area

“Venner! They're prying the shutter open!”

A deep repeating thud rumbled out from behind Oxyi somewhere in the distance as she watched the Slaves at the far end of the mall. Something huge was stomping towards them, but they dared not take their eyes off the screeching shutter and its many faces peering from below it.

“Venner! What the hell is going on?!?”

The arms that were holding up the shutter strained to lift it higher, blood starting to leak from their combined forearms as the metal cut deep into them, but it was high enough for the Slaves to pour through now and they squirmed out from under it, ex-customers from the adult wing scrambled out and through themselves at the guards to the right hand side across the mall floor. Their rapid approach was met with volleys of thumping Scaser shots, bright red tracers tore chunks out of the first wave, along with some solid hits from Oxyi's shotgun, dropping three Slaves mid way across the floor.

Their bodies skidded to a halt as they dropped on the polished tiled floors. The repeated stamping behind the guards approached closer, it sounded mechanical... More Slaves crawled out from under the shutter, a couple of them seemingly faster and more aggressive, these were torn apart by Scaser fire but as they died, they partially exploded in a bright cobalt flash, a huge bolt of plasma arcing to the floor and melting through the tiling with spectacular fashion.

A fresh group of Slaves crawled out, despite Oxyi shelling the aggressors, and they charged as a group, slowly losing limbs between them and running thin on numbers as the crossing Scaser fire tore them to pieces. But they got closer to the guard line and as the Slave in the middle of the group died, another plasma flash leapt from its body, but this time connected with a guard, obliterating his form, leaving ash and melting rubber in that same bright cobalt flash as before!

“Venner! We just lost someone!” Another guard called desperately down the comms.

“Crew, listen up!” Venner finally replied to all guards across the station, including Oxyi. “I told the regulars about what's going on, they're taking up arms. Stubborn lot. You got a mech coming to the main mall and one at the maintenance docks. Fight around it. If these fuckers want Barru X's people, they're gonna have to work for it!”

Another wave of Slaves crawled out eagerly, hungry and ready to strike.

*THUD*

A meter long metal stake flew through the air, punching into the gut of a Slave in a business suit and sending him hurtling backwards with the sheer force of the impact. He writhed around on the floor, twisted up by the length of metal and screamed out in rage, his teeth gritting in his frothing mouth.

The ear splitting thud of a super sized industrial nail driver rippled through the mall as the source of the stomping finally arrived. A bi-pedal construction mech, armed with a super heavy nail driver on one of its oversized arms and a rock breaker drill on its other, marched into the mall on its undersized, stubby legs and triangular, bright yellow hydraulic feet. Its glass cockpit was protected by crudely welded on metal plates but its main armaments were solid pieces of industrial equipment, well built and extraordinarily heavy.

“Ya'll should have said we were under attack! Would have gotten this baby out sooner!” The pilot called out, taking the centre space within the mall, the guards moved their positions to cover its flanks, along with Oxyi who rapidly clacked more shells into her shotgun. The pilot took aim and the mechs super sized nail gun began to lay down crude yet extraordinarily effective suppressive fire at the incoming Slaves.

*PANG-PANG-PANG-PANG*

The spikes punched into the shutter, stopping when the flat head of the gigantic nails hit the rattling metal but clearly piercing through and brutally impaling the slaves behind it, the left side of the shutter dropped as the Slaves holding onto it were skewered, clattering to the floor loudly. It crushed a Slave that was half way through crawling under it, but the right hand side stayed up, with a few Slaves wiggling under the metal and pushing up with all their might to keep the gate open.

“This... feels like its going better!” Oxyi wiped her brow, thick with sweat and took aim with her shotgun once more. The Slaves attempted to huddle together to protect their plasma traps but the massive nails stapled their bodies together brutally, slowing them down as they attempted to pry themselves off it, but the slow down was more than enough for the gun line to cut them down with a flurry of red tracers and pellets.

With the flow of Slaves slowed down as the mech's nail driver to literally pinned them together, the guards stemmed the tide and held the choke point, with more armed Nomads turning up, setting up cover at the choke-points and joining the guard line around the mech. Scaser fire tore apart what few Slaves were still in the mall and scrambling back under the shutter but after only a few seconds, the threat was completely dealt with, for now.

The guards and Nomad's cheered together, pumping their fists into the air.

Oxyi exhaled slowly through her mouth, as the Slaves backed off, dropping the shutter to the floor again and disappearing behind its blood splattered metal frame. With the threat dealt with, she hung her shotgun back on her shoulder and turned her attention back to the reason she was down here in the first place.

“D-Diego?! Has anyone seen him?!”

*

“Come to kill. Mhe-hah-hah-hah-hah. Mmhmistake.” Plasia laughed to herself as she marched through the corrupted remains of the long stay wing. Every corridor had its doors flung open, the occupants plucked for her corruptive desires, the lights flickered as she walked. She passed a utility room as she strutted, two Slaves were placed inside, waiting for their orders.

She focused her senses and saw through the eyes of the Slaves she'd left to cover the rear, a full squad of armed guards were rapidly approaching, cutting down the sentries and closing in on the long stay wing. The Slave's vision rapidly blurring as they were shot down, but they'd already served their purpose. It wasn't too long ago that these Slave's were just ordinary people, staying aboard this station and living their lives like any other day...

“SUFFER WELL! TRUTH OR DARE!” She screamed from under the mask, charging off down the corridor towards where the guards were going to breach from. On the far side of the wing, a lounge with a maintenance access at the back of it. The lounge was a little better decorated than the corridors, with a slightly warm, homely feeling to it with comfy looking chairs scattered around, a few pool tables and a large TV screen mounted to one of the walls, it was also a lot more open than the corridors, with some room to walk around within its amber lit interior. A single first aid kit was kept near the door, labelled “Use in case of medical emergency” in bright green writing, along with a fire extinguisher.

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They were looking breach in at the very rear, through a inconspicuous “Staff only” door. Plasia entered into the lounge, blue goo still dripping from her mask and staining the otherwise unmarked floor of the room and listened closely, hearing many heavy footsteps from behind the walls.

“Dare.” She growled, creeping towards the door and pressing up against the wall. She had no more Slaves in the area to keep eyes on the team, but she could feel them right through the plasterboard... they were pressing themselves up against the wall too... in a line... the ones closer to the door were fiddling with something...

This wouldn't do.

They would need to be dealt with. As she planned.

She screeched loudly, distorted by her mask filters and lunged through the wall, her hands smashing through the structure with little issue and grabbing hold of two men firmly, she yanked them back through the wall in one mighty pull, ignoring their terrified screams as she quickly mauled them to death, clumsily crushing their bodies with bludgeoning fists as anger overtook her.

The remaining guards quickly opened fire with their Scasers, pelting Plasia's form with stinging red rounds.

Yet, they didn't hurt her.

Some bounced off.

Others fizzled out entirely.

Slowly, the Scaser fire stopped and Plasia stood, grinning beneath the filters. A crimson afterglow grew around her body, like a demonic sun setting in the distance, red surrounding blue.

She cackled loudly and lunged forward again ploughing through the wall and crushing another man into the maintenance tunnel wall, then grabbing two more by their arms and hurling them into the lounge in a single, overpowering motion.

“ENERGY FIRE INEFFECTIVE! SWITCH TO BALLISTICS!”

Their bodies span through the air, one slamming into a wall and dropping to the floor. The other she snatched out of the air and slammed him down onto a pool table, smashing it to pieces and sending wooden chunks scattering into the air. The guards in the corridor fumbled with their weapons and swapped to their repeaters instead, nodding to one another.

Bullets began to fill the air, punching into the walls and furniture, their impacts kicking dust and drywall into the fight.

Plasia grabbed the destroyed pool table, the guards body still embedded within it, and threw it at the now approaching aggressors. The guards moved into the lounge, emerging both through the massive hole in the wall Plasia had made and the “Staff only” door. The pool table missed all the guards but instead exploded into chunks and fell to pieces, crumbling over the floor as it impacted an undamaged section of wall.

Unlike the Scasers, the repeaters stung her flesh, thumping deep into her skin, splattering sapphire blood over the walls as rounds glanced her arms and legs. She ducked down and charged forward, terrifyingly fast. She knocked down three more guards, grabbing another pool table off the ground with both hands and using it as an oversized shield to protect herself. The knocked over guards scrambled around her feet, trying to regain their footing, but the monstrous alien stamped over them, her feet crushing bone and armour with every sickening crunch as bullets pelted the wood of the table and her.

Her eyes lit up upon counting the number of men in the room and more vitally – not within the maintenance tunnel...

“~Now~”

There was a clack in the distance.

The lights cut.

The room lit up only by the light coming from the tunnel's safety lights, the repeater fire, her blue goo and crimson afterglow.

“Where the hell is she?! I'm shooting at the glow but I'm hitting nothin'!”

She cackled again, a heavy fist punched another guard straight into the ceiling, his spine immediately buckling under the pressure of the attack.

They hit the flash-lights on their repeaters, shining their beams of light to locate their target, but Plasia was doing everything in her power to remain evasive, dropping to the floor and snatching yet another guard by the leg, she grabbed hold with both hands and swung him as hard as she could, no one saw where he impacted, but the sheer thud was confirmation that he was gone...

“Light her up! Finish this!” The few remaining men called out, finally getting a good bead on her. A volley of bullets pierced into Plasia's stomach, riddling her with holes. She screeched again and galloped across the room, swinging her arms in huge arcs to catch as many people as she could, she felt multiple impacts and quickly followed up on those she'd knocked down.

Driving her fingers into soft flesh and pulling at their meat, they screamed in pain as she rended them apart in brutal, animalistic fashion... More bullets punched into her abdomen, blood bursting from it and crystallizing around the wounds.

“Venner! Code black! We're taking heavy losses! We need-” One of the guards attempted to phone in, but his brief distraction was enough for Plasia to surge towards him. He raised his repeater and fired more shots into her stomach, but the impacts were less effective as the crystallizing blood impeded their penetration. She seized him by the head and drove his skull into the wall behind him, repeating the action two more times rapidly to ensure his demise.

Only two men remained and they both opened fire on her together, bullets thudding into her forearms and stomach once more. Pain filled her lead ridden stomach, she felt the fight draining out of her.

“NOT FINISHED!” She yelled at the top of her lungs, charging towards one of the men. They split up to avoid getting taken out together, casting a glance at one another and a knowing nod. Her pace was slower, the afterglow faded and the blue blood pouring from her gut was leaving a thick, blurry trail on the floor.

Her target retreated, trying to stay out of her reach. A deep growl escaped her throat and she grabbed a bloody pool cue from the floor, hurling it like a spear at him. It pierced his thigh and he yelled in pain, briefly clutching at the wound, but focused his attention back to his repeater and held the trigger down at Plasia's approaching form. Only a couple of rounds erupted from the barrel however and his pinned form was rapidly brutalised by Plasia, pulling him apart like an unwanted scrap of meat.

The final guard's weapon clicked behind her, its ammo depleted.

He went for his side arm and fired more rounds at the now stumbling Controller, Plasia's once vicious and animated form was now rapidly depleting in strength and her stride was weak and slow.

He fired more rounds at her, the pistol clacking loudly. She lurched towards him with wobbly legs, shielding her face with a single dripping arm, the other arm hanging more limply to her side.

Shot after shot, it didn't stop her slow advance. She backed him into a corner, the pistol clacking the entire time, the corner lighting up with every shot fired, the sight of Plasia's blood and blue mask approaching him burning into his sight.

She brought her arm down weakly onto him, him raising both of his up to shield himself. Their forearms locked together and he fought with every ounce of strength he had in his trembling body. Her hand pushed past his and locked around his face and with that, she pushed down one more time, a sickening snap rang out and the guard fell down, his body instantly limp.

The room was now devoid of repeater fire and screaming. Replaced with the pained gurgles of the last guard and the drip, drip, drip of Plasia's profusely bleeding guts and forearms, riddling with crystal lined bullet holes and oozing fluid.

She dropped to her knees in the middle of the room, unclasping her mask finally, neon blue goop popped free from the seal and ran down her neck as she laid it on her lap. Slowly, she raised it to her face again and purposefully placed a gentle kiss on its forehead, her neon saliva staining it as it did with everything.

“Mhmm... fun... been good... Leech proud maybe?” Her voice was weak and low, half gargling on her own blood. She closed her eyes and laid the mask in front of her, the lounge still partially lit by beams of light shining from now scattered weapons and what little light was coming from the maintenance tunnel. She felt her control fading.

“Not failure. Better than that.” She whispered to herself. A small smile creeping over her face.

For just a few seconds, she remained silent and basked in the scene, soaking in the blood and gore. Feeling the presence of her horde in the station, all placed and waiting. Perfection.

She wondered what the other her would make of this and savoured a quiet laugh, half gargling it.

Suddenly, her eyes bolted open, the hunter-like slits replaced with their orb-like opposites. She gasped for breath, clutching at her stomach and looking around in the room in sheer panic.

“Diego?!? Seeth?!? Guys?!”

Her eyes filled with tears, pain flooded her stomach and arms, she glanced at herself to see the bleeding bullet wounds and a dark trail on the floor that led straight to her. Another noise snapped her attention up immediately. She saw a broken man on the floor, his torso bent in half, yet he was still barely alive and limply pawing towards a weapon on the floor...

Weakly, she crawled over to him, barely able to see through the tears clouding her eyes and kneeled above him.

“Hey! W-we need to- get you help... I can get y-you help!”

His eyes met hers, he was panicked, confused...

“D-did I do this t-to you...?” Guilt surged through her, many times more painful than the numerous deep bullet wounds. “I-I can fix this... H-hold on, sir! Stay with me!” She pleaded with him, grabbing for his hand and squeezing it.

She strained with all her effort, barely making it to her feet, clutching onto her stomach.

Across the room, her eyes landed on the first aid kit at the entrance, its green signage barely visible in the dark. More guilt rippled through her, making her sick to her stomach. She noticed the numerous other corpses around the room, once she started seeing them, she couldn't stop. Her vision bounced from body to body, she desperately searched around for any other survivors, but there was no other life to be found in the destroyed room.

“W-what have I done?!?” She put one shaky leg in front of the other, but she was so weak... her legs felt like cold stone, unresponsive and limp.

“I won't let him die like this... not like this...” She stumbled forward a little further, but the pain began to blur her vision. Her foot kicked something and she crashed to the floor, pain erupting through her body as her stomach splattered against the deeply stained carpet.

“I c-can't...” She glanced back towards the one survivor, going to address him, but noticed that his chest was completely still, his eyes empty and gone, still looking at her.

She curled up into a ball, feeling numbness begin to spread through her limbs.

“I'm sorry...”

Lit up perfectly by a flash-light, she saw the object she stumbled on... A gas-mask with cracked lenses, goop dripping from its filters and a neon blue kiss mark on its forehead.

Dark fluid continued to pool around her, warm at first, but rapidly chilling.

She tried to move, but there was just nothing. No strength left in her. What little there was continued to pour out of her perforated abdomen.

“I-is there anyone here...? Hello? C-can someone help me?” She called out as loud as she could, but the air in her lungs wouldn't move, it came out as barely a whisper.

Slowly, in the darkness of the destroyed lounge, surrounded by the corpses of those who tried to stop her, she let her eyes fall closed. It felt fitting.

Maybe this is for the better...

The room rested into an uneasy silence as the dust, blood and goo settled. Her breathing slowed, it was painful to get air in and out now, but she didn't mind. It would be over soon.

But as her body slowly stilled, a small tingle rippled through her skin.

Someone was staring at her.

 

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