OT: Hell is For Heroes.

[AgentZero]

Dear lord, did I really let this slide to page 3?


“Sorry, sweetie,” Saraea said, stepping back. “I've just missed it so much.”
“Well,” Alice said slowly. “I suppose I'd probably miss it after a while too, so you're forgiven. But more importantly, who are they?” she asked, pointing at the six onlookers.
“Mercs,” Saraea replied. “I hired them after I found out you were being held in the hospital. They were actually going to make a move tonight.”
Kagan looked from the mercenaries to Saraea, and back to the mercenaries again before settling his gaze on his old friend. “You needed six large men to break into a hospital? You.”
Saraea smiled at him. “I do not need the assistance of six large men to rescue anyone from anywhere. I do however need six large men to rescue my two favourite people from a hospital without anyone getting killed.”
“Ah,” Kagan said, nodding. “I knew there was a logic to it somewhere.”
“So, Alice-” Saraea broke off and looked around the room before inquiring, “Where's Alice?”
As if in reply, the ship's atmospheric thrusters thundered to life and the ship lurched as it began to rise into the air. Kagan stumbled forward in the direction of the bridge. Saraea shouted at the mercenaries to get off the ship while they still could. Five of them raced down the gangway, but the leader stood fast, shouting something about payment until Saraea sent him scurrying off the ship with an indescribably evil look. Somehow managing a serene stroll despite the bobbing and weaving of the ship, she made her way to the gangway controls and closed the cargo bay doors. That accomplished, she walked up the flight of stairs to the common room, dodged a sliding chair, nimbly leapt over an overly aggressive sofa and ambled up the corridor to the bridge. There she found Kagan, on his back with his legs propped up in the air by a chair, struggling to right himself, and Alice seated calmly at the navigation console, her hands deftly flying across the controls. Noticing Saraea, Kagan briefly stopped struggling long enough to inform her that forcibly removing Alice from the bridge was not a wise course of action. Eventually, he managed to free his legs from the chair, and pulled himself onto it, where he sat for a moment, breathing heavily.
“So, pumpkin,” he said conversationally. “Where are we going.”
“Up,” Alice replied distractedly. “We are most assuredly going up.”
“Okay,” he said slowly. “And where are we going after that?”
“There,” she told him, pointing vaguely at the navigational chart to her left.
“Wonderful!” he exclaimed with the barest hint of sarcasm. “Why?”
“I have too many pistachios, yet no spoon,” Alice informed him.
Kagan and Saraea shared a look, then as one rushed Alice. Several minutes later, Kagan turned his head towards Saraea and inquired, “How exactly did this happen?”
Saraea looked at the length of rope that bound her hand and foot, then over to Kagan who was similarly bound. “I really don't know,” she said. “I'm still trying to figure out where she got the rope. A few minutes later, she added, “You won't tell anyone about this, will you?”
Kagan made a questioning noise.
“I mean,” she went on. “I have a reputation to consider. Grown men tremble at the mention of my name. Mother's frighten their children with stories of me. Entire armies turn and walk the other way rather than confront me, and yet here I am, overcome and restrained by a single tiny little girl. Centuries of terror and bloodshed could be for naught if this ever got out.”
“My lips are sealed,” Kagan assured her. “But look on the bright side, you may be bound, but at least you're not gagged.”
Some minutes passed before Kagan attempted an apology through his gag. Saraea, unable to make a proper reply, contented herself with making a particularly rude gesture.
More time passed in silence before they were gently jostled by the familiar shudder of the ship entering null-space, and Kagan had fallen asleep by the time the deck shuddered again as the Daedalus made transit back into normal space. It took the gentle prodding of Alice's boot to rouse him.
“We're here,” she informed him. “I'm going to untie you now.”
She easily undid the knots that Kagan had worn himself out just trying to loosen, and extended a hand to help him to his feet, whereupon he fixed her with a dark scowl.
“If you weren't so cute and little, I'd kick your *** up one bulkhead and down the other,” he informed her darkly.
Alice met his gaze for a moment, then shrugged. “You can spank me later, for now we have more important things to do.”
From the floor, Saraea made an angry noise and held out her hands.
“We-ell,” Alice said. “I'm not sure you'd have the same reservations in the *** kicking department. It may be safer to leave you there for now.”
Saraea made a reassuring noise, struggled to her knees and held out her hands again.
“Ok,” Alice agreed after a moment's thought. “But you have to promise.”
Saraea nodded earnestly and sighed with relief as Alice removed the gag and ropes. Saraea stood and gave Alice a short bow, waiting until Alice had turned around before delivering a mighty boot to her posterior. Alice whirled, he face ablaze with fury, but her expression crumpled when she saw the size of the grin on Saraea's face.
“Ok,” she said with a wry smile. “I suppose I had that coming. But now, behold!” She waved an arm towards the main viewer, and Kagan and Saraea crowded around it. The screen showed an artificially enhanced view of what was outside the ship, mainly a thick, swirling nebula. In the distance, an unmistakably artificial structure was slowly revealing itself.
Kagan's brow furrowed as he quietly asked, “What the hell is that?”

[Puke]

it must be a giant spoon!

[AgentZero]

Yes. That, or....


“Home,” Alice said quietly. “It's home.”
As they watched, the structure eventually unveiled itself as a small space station. It was unfathomable that they'd stumble across something that small in such a huge nebula, and yet someone else had obviously done the same as the ship beeped an alarm.
“Contact!” Kagan called out, rushing over to the sensor station. “One ship, directly aft, coming in fast.”
“They're hailing us,” Saraea advised. “Switching to main viewer.”
“Oh, [censored],” Kagan muttered as the screen flared to life.
“O'Shea, actually,” a grinning face informed him. “How are ya, ye jamby bastard?”
“What in the name of the Nine Divine Whores of Kantarl are you doing out here?” Kagan asked.
“Getting shot at by you it would seem,” Kaelan replied dryly.
Kagan turned around in his chair. “Alice, stop shooting at the nice man,” he told her.
“Sorry,” she replied, grudgingly switching off the fire control console.
“Cheers,” O'Shea said. “Now as for how I got here, that's a very interesting story. There I was, all set to head off into the wild black yonder with a fine filly at my side. We decide to stop at a small station on the outskirts of the Fyron system to pick up a few supplies, when said filly decides that she's going to leave me for a gas miner. A gas miner! Can you believe it? A man. Who mines. Gas. Stole my woman! Well, obviously, the only thing that's going to make me feel better is a low altitude flyby of Sheol. So there I am, cruising along and I must say quite enjoying myself, when my scanners pick up a rather familiar ship. And I admit, it was a difficult choice to make, but I eventually decided I'd best be following you to make sure you didn't get into any trouble, and so, here I am.”
“Interesting,” Kagan said slowly. “Well, hurry on up and get yourself on board then.”
“Initiating docking maneuvers,” O'Shea replied. “See you in a few minutes.”
Kagan left the Daedalus's docking maneuvers in Alice's able hands and hurried down to the docking bay to greet his old friend. Just as he arrived in the bay, the ship lurched gently and there was a loud clang as hull met hull. A few moments later there was the hiss of the airlock cycling, and a few moments after that, Kaelan O'Shea stepped onto the Daedalus. Kagan greeted him with a slap on the shoulder that O'Shea returned enthusiastically. They chatted about inconsequential things for a few minutes, until they were interrupted by a clang that seemed to come from below.
“Expecting more visitors?” O'Shea asked.
“No,” Kagan replied worriedly. The two men hurried up to the bridge to find out what was going on, where they found Saraea on her back with her legs propped up in the air by a chair, struggling to right herself, and Alice seated calmly at the navigation console, hands folded on her lap.
“We've docked with the station,” Alice informed them matter of factly. “They left their main shuttle bay open.”
Kagan sighed. “I suppose you want to go aboard now?” he asked.
“Yes, please,” Alice replied, managing to sound as though there was actually any choice in the matter.
The four of them trotted down to the main cargo bay, Alice racing ahead to gleefully slap the switch that opened the door. Kagan, slightly behind her, slapped the switch to close it again, dodged her elbow, and flicked the switch that activated the external cameras. The screen above the console flared to life, and showed six dull gray battle machines standing outside the door, their ludicrously large rifles at the ready.
“Wouldn't want to run smack into them, now would you?” Kagan admonished.
“No sir, sorry sir, an older boy told me to,” Alice replied, staring at her feet. “But seriously? Robots? Who uses robots these days? It's so...” she wrinkled her nose. “Colonial.”
Kagan opened a locker beside the control console and pulled out two heavy duty handguns, loaded explosive rounds into them and tossed them to O'Shea before pulling out another two for himself.
“Right, here's the plan,” he said. “We're going to drop the gangway. As soon as it's open enough for us to fit, Kaelan and I will jump out. Kaelan takes the three on the right, I'll take the three on the left. You ladies hide around the corner to avoid any stray fire. After- what?” Kagan stopped at the look he was receiving from Alice and Saraea.
Alice raised her hand. “Hide?” she asked incredulously. “Um, certified unstoppable killing machine right here. Honestly, I have a certificate. I made it myself.”
Saraea raised her hand. “Intergalatically feared destroyer of worlds, standing right beside the certified killing machine,” she said. “Hide isn't exactly in my vocabulary. Unless it's in the context of, 'Stop hiding, I'm trying to shoot you.'”
“Yes... well... you'll just have to... I mean...” Kagan floundered, clearly distressed.
“It's a guy thing,” O'Shea interjected.
“Yes!” Kagan cried, pointing a finger at the two women. “A guy thing. A thing guys do. For guys. Done by guys. Us guys.”
“Fine,” Alice said with a shrug. Turning to Saraea, she asked, “Are you hungry? I'm starved.”
Saraea nodded. “Now that you mention it, it has been a while since I ate. Let's go find something to munch on while the guys do their guy thing.”
Kagan watched the two of them head up the stairs and into the common room before turning to O'Shea. “Ready?” he asked.
O'Shea cocked his pistols. “Let's do this thing,” he replied.
Kagan punched the switch that began lowering the gangway, and gave his friend a hard look. “Where did you learn to talk like that?” he asked. “I mean really, 'Let's do this thing'? What the hell is that?”
He was still lecturing O'Shea as the two raced up the gangway and launched themselves high into the air. Kagan twisted in mid-air, and his pistols spoke angrily. The first two exploded before they had a chance to move, the third had just enough time to swing it's rifle upwards before two explosive rounds blew apart. The gangway touched the deck a split second before Kagan and O'Shea landed in the middle of a smoking pile of scrap.
O'Shea looked back into the ship. “See, doing cool stuff like that just isn't as fun when there's no one around to see it.”
“I saw it,” Kagan pointed out. “And it was pretty damn cool.”
“You don't count,” O'Shea replied. “You don't have jiggly bits.”
“No,” Kagan said sadly. “You're right. It's not the same without the jiggly bits.”
“Ladies!” O'Shea called. “It's safe to come out now!”
Alice & Saraea appeared at the doorway to the common room, and leisurely made their way down the stairs before crossing the deck and stepping down the gangway.
“Oh, good,” Alice said dryly, still chewing. “You destroyed something. Well done. I couldn't have done that. Not me. Helpless little girl and all.”
“Yes, well, be careful,” said Kagan. “There might be more of them.”

[Puke]

HA! i was right. i was so right. its just that the spoons they were eating with in the common area was off-scene. darn, im good.

[TurinTurambar]

Nice to see the flow and dialogue is back on track. A good read AZ, thanks!

TT

[AgentZero]

Alice hefted one of the machine's rifles that was roughly the same size as her. “Good,” she replied with a large grin.
Although massive, the hanger bay they now found themselves in had only one visible exit, a large open door at the far end of the hangar. They made their way towards it cautiously, weapons raised, each expecting a tide of battle machines to pour through the opening at any moment. They reached the door without incident, and Alice poked her head around the corner.
“All clear,” she told the rest. “Follow me.”
They followed her slowly through the door, and through an endless maze of corridors. Bulkhead doors politely opened as they approached, and at each, the foursome readied themselves for a fight that never came. One immaculate, sterile corridor led to another, which branched off into an identical hallway, which in turn brought them to still another passageway. Just as Kagan was about to ask Alice if she had any real inkling as to where they were going, they reached a particularly large door that stubbornly refused to open for them.
Alice set down her rifle and approached the door. She worked her fingers in between the two plates that formed the doorway and heaved mightily.
And precisely nothing happened.
She braced her one leg, then two against the door frame as she continued to heave with surprising strength until her fingers slipped and she dropped unceremoniously to the floor.
O'Shea stepped forward and gave Alice an amused look as he stepped over her. “Sit and watch in awe at how a man does it,” he advised her. He pulled a strange looking tool out from his pocket and used it to detach a control panel that sat to the left of the door. He reached inside the small aperture behind the panel and began rearranging the wires behind it. “There,” he said after a few minutes of fiddling. “Almost got it- done!”
There was a small pop, a terribly loud bang, and O'Shea sailed gracefully backwards through the air. He flew through a bulkhead door, which opened conveniently in front of him, and closed after he had passed through. Several seconds later, there was a muffled thump as O'Shea ostensibly impacted something unwilling to open.
“Wow,” Alice said into the surprised silence, sounding really rather awed. “That was way more impressive than my way. I couldn't have done that, me. No sir, no way I would've flown that far. Well, maybe, seeing as I'm small. Now that I think about it, I probably could have done that. Yep, I probably could.”
O'Shea wandered back into the room and sat down heavily. “Blimey,” was all he said.
“How many fingers am I holding up?” Kagan asked, not holding up his hand, let alone any fingers.
“Seventeen,” O'Shea replied.
“Right, he's fine,” said Saraea.
“So,” said Kagan, turning to look at her. “Shall you or shall I?”
“Oh, I couldn't,” Saraea replied with a modest wave of her hand.
“You sure?” he inquired. “I don't mind if you-”
“No, really,” she insisted. “I really couldn't. You go ahead.”
“If you insist,” Kagan said with a shrug.
He stepped forward, reached out, extended one finger, and pressed the large green button to the right of the door frame. The two sides of the door slid apart with a gentle hiss, and stood open, waiting expectantly. Alice stepped passed him, shot him a look that would have withered a lesser man, and moved into the cavernous chamber on the other side of the door. Kagan stepped through and looked around. Directly ahead there was a large, three meter high control tower that sat in the middle of a circular platform. The platform, and the causeway that led to it were the only illuminated areas of the room. Glancing over the edge of the causeway, Kagan saw only darkness. The floor could have been two meters below, or two hundred. Neither the walls, nor the ceiling were visible, giving the platform the illusion of floating in midair. The tower was comprised of six individual work stations, each with a multitude of information screens, and each equipped with a dauntingly complex array of controls. At the top of the tower was long, retracted mechanical arm with a large, four-pronged gripping claw on it's business end. Behind each of the tower's workstations, arranged in a circle around the tower were a set of what appeared to be docking cradles. They were comprised of a 'spine' that rose up out of the floor, higher at the far end then it was at the near end, with three ribs, one at the top, middle, and end of the spine. Something evidently fit into the cradles, though a cursory examination of the room revealed no hints as to what that something was, but Kagan couldn't help thinking that whatever it was would be roughly the size of a coffin.
He reached the end of the causeway and walked onto the platform to find Alice already engrossed at one of the tower's workstations. She paid him no heed as he walked up behind her, as she slowly, almost tentatively ran her hands over the controls.
“Green paint always fades, much better to use yellow,” she murmured quietly. “Large canines serenade small felines, but big dogs loathe small cats. Inactivity is death. Inactive, inactive, inactive, inactive. Active!” she exclaimed suddenly and mashed a button with both hands.
The mechanical arm at the top of the tower hummed with energy, raised itself high into the air, and extended out into the darkness. It returned a moment later carrying a two meter long capsule that reminded Kagan immediately of a shiny silver coffin. The arm lowered the capsule onto the cradle behind Alice. After releasing the capsule, the arm removed the top half of the capsule and set it aside before returning to it's perch at the top of the control tower.
The four of them crowded around the capsule, staring at it's contents in absolute shock. Alice was the first to speak. Raising her hand a little, she inquired gently, “What the hell is that?”

[AgentZero]

Hmmm... Releasing more HifH in the midst of a SE5 frenzy appears not to have been the wisest of actions.