PLOT - JDL | Cmdr Valeese, Ngezzod, Rassid | "Destroy The Wires"

Posted on Thu Mar 15th, 2018 @ 5:59pm by Commander Valeese Stacker

Mission: Lacuna

Buzzzzz. Buzz. Buzzzzzzzzzzz. Buzz buzz. Buzzzzzzzzz.

It was incessant. The hum of energy running through the bulkheads of the ship had long since become a droning buzz that spoke volumes, occasionally breaking into rhythm, about the lack of maintenance or engineering upkeep the vessel experienced. It had become a nearly maddening nuisance. Her ears had long since stopped twitching in the direction the energy was breaking in – the noise a surefire indication that there was a fray, or some sort of short – and had plastered to her skull in anguish. Normally Valeese wouldn’t have cared about the sound. Normally it would have been tuned out, or reported to Engineering and then tuned out, and she’d go on her merry way. Now, she was stuck and in a perilously hyper critical state in which every little sound became important and her attention clung to it. Specifically, that buzzing.

Rolling over, the little Vorta studied the slumbering Stenellis she was held with. Si’a looked no worse for wear, perfectly content to rest in her drug induced haze. Her skin was a proper color, her respirations even and easy. Her ears pricked up ever so slightly to help her home in on the sound of the sea-child’s heart and that of her unborn child. Check and check… Both of them were safe, content, and very much alive. She could be thankful for small miracles.

Buzzzzz. Buzz. Buzzzzzzzzzzz. Buzz buzz. Buzzzzzzzzz.

It wouldn't stop, not even for an iota of a second, that broken noise that rose as a prophet of trouble soon to come. The ship would break down at some point, likely soon, perhaps even before they arrived to wherever it was that they were headed... An ear flicked back in its direction, listening sharply to the way it pulsed behind the bulkhead plates just behind where she lay waiting to meet her destiny. Valeese was cold, nearly naked... The blanket she'd been given had been quickly passed off to Si'a in order to help keep her warm and comfortable. After all she'd been through on that Gods forsaken planet, the last thing she needed was a repeat performance on a Gods forsaken slave ship.

Performance... Break down... Destination... Electricity... Fiber optics didn't hurt to touch, they were benign especially if pulled from conduits. Uncurling from her ball, still tender from being manhandled, Valeese slowly crawled towards the incessant infernal sound. The plate itself was warped, the edge of it sticking up and away from the rest of the bulkhead - likely injured by a piece of freight carelessly tossed against or allowed to shift in flight due to someone's carelessness when it came to locking down the load. She didn't care why it was lifted. All she cared about was the fact that it was lifted and only took a gentle amount of prying to break it free from the rest of the panel. Having its weight in her hands set her heart up to race as a lump in her throat, threatening to choke her while her stomach began to tie itself in knots. Looking over her shoulder, she was certain they were alone. No footsteps, no sounds of life other than Si'a and her wee stowaway, they were most certainly alone. The cables were clear, lit up like Christmas, and they made her skin glow as her hand approached tentatively. When her fingers touched, she expected an alarm to go off - but none did. Nor did it scream when she wrapped those fingers around every bit of cable that she could grab and tore them mercilessly from whatever harness and conduit they connected to.

Something hissed, something else popped, things blinked, and then... The buzzing stopped right about the same time the lights died and emergency lighting kicked on. Valeese laughed, her hand still wrapped around a large swatch of now useless fiber.

It was a breathless sound, barely a whisper, but he heard it. Worse? He saw it. The Vorta's precious face aglow with smug victory and a sense of accomplishment, maybe relief. He saw it. It only took him a handful of strides before he was upon her, his massive verdant hand outstretched until it met the ultra-fragile back of her neck, curling its branch-like fingers around it and squeezing as he lifted her to her feet. He could feel her body tense in surprise, the way her voice vibrated within the flesh of her larynx. One could almost say it was exhilarating to know he'd gotten the jump on a creature revered for its excellent sense of hearing. At least it would have been if he wasn’t ripe for murder. “The fuck have you done?!” He bellowed, his anger only mounting as his grip slipped and she fell from his grasp to the floor beneath them. It was a loss easily made up for with a quick heel first strike of his foot towards her downed body.

The yelp of pain induced by the connection of the kick to her shoulder was only an added incentive.

Valeeese rolled, bracing herself back up on her arms and tried to ignore the way both her neck and shoulder had started the throb. The muscles there weren’t used to such abuse, and rightfully so. “Ending the noise!” She barked sharply in response, climbing back to her feet. Toe to toe with the Orion, the Vorta stood at her full height. At 5’3” she was hardly impressive, especially when staring straight up a 7’ tall green tree that could have easily been just as wide – or so he seemed… Especially with the way he was bristling and seething. “Buzz buzz buzz, never stopping. It was driving me up the wall!” That much was true. He arms flew in gesture towards the now silent air around them and then fell to her sides, shoulder still pulsing in protest.

“Ignorant Vorta bitch! You disabled the ship!” He roared in response, sending the back of one hand across her face, “We’re dead in space running a generator to keep life support on line just so you can keep breathing! How do you suppose we fix it?! Huh?! How do you suppose we fix it while out here just sitting?!”

Her cheek and eye felt like they were about to explode from the impact. It was like a car accident, the sudden strike forcing her head up and away in the same direction as his follow through and she nearly lost her footing in the process. Stumbling a step to the side, her hands instinctively rose to check and caress the injured bits of flesh. The eye would swell, the cheek would be red – but no blood came away on her tiny fingertips. Shaking her head, Valeese shrugged, “You don’t. Maybe you admit defeat? Call for help?” Her eyebrows lifted as the shake turned into a slow nod, “Ever think of that? It’s a lot better alternative to waiting for life support to fail. But what the fuck do I know, right?”

“Don’t try your black magic on me, Vorta, I know all about your witchery. It won’t work.” The Orion snarled, watching her as she bounced back in all of her passive aggressive glory. Her hair was wild, unbridled curls and waves of the darkest black he’d ever seen. Darker even than space, it graced her face and shoulders with no hints of starshine whatsoever. It seemed that that stars were reserved for her eyes. Bright and expressive, he could see hatred and pain glimmering within their violet depths right along what looked to be smug, contrite, pride. She was proud of what she’d done, and it drove him to the brink. As beautiful as she was, he wanted her dead like a moth that had fluttered too close to a prized bit of silk.

“But it already has.” She grinned, huffing a soft bit of laughter, “You’re stuck out here, far away from whatever sale is going on,” the laughter rung a bit more freely in complete and total rebellion against the stinging of her cheek. If only he’d used his fist… She’d be asleep now and blissfully ignorant of his rampage and the unspent hellfire brimming and threatening to overflow. Then maybe she wouldn’t have even dreamed of saying anything as stupid as what came next; “I’ve won.”

In that instant, he was upon her, his big hands wrapping around her small throat and she flew backwards, propelled by his force. Her head hitting the bulkhead was the sound she’d remember most, and it would be followed up by the sound of his growl as he crushed her between him and that cold, hard, wall. Again, it became a fight for survival, her injured fingers and nails lacing into the flesh of his hands and arms as he held her.

The Orion wasn’t allowing her to breathe as he held her there, slinging insult as he inflicted injury. “Big words for such a tiny beast.” He taunted her, watching those pretty eyes well up with panic and fear. Only the sound of her struggling against him and the occasional gurgle came as a response, and he loved it. Loved watching those perfect lips turn purple and then blue as they feebly wrapped around silent words. “What’s that, darling? I can’t hear you. Speak up!” He thrashed her, lifting her from the wall, closer to his chest, and slinging her back again. His hips ground hers, taking pleasure if the way she squirmed and writhed in her attempts to simply live and it wasn't long at all before he was pressing a knee between her thighs, forcing her slender legs apart. "C'mon baby, don't you know I love your voice?" He taunted, letting up on her only enough to reach between them to free himself and move the groin of her panties, dipping his head and eyes down to see what the hell it was he was doing.

The Gods had granted her a final shot, and she took it with every fiber of life she had in reserve.

Valeese's hands left his wrists and darted for his eyes, clawing and plucking and digging as they sunk into bits of his facial features – all the while struggling against the oncoming symptoms of hypoxia. Within her field of vision, a purple haze had begun to reside, darkening as it spread in threat of the cold darkness of her death to follow. She could feel her racing heart beginning to slow, and her burning lungs convulsing as she struggled, in vain, for breath. This wasn’t how this ended. It couldn’t be how this ended – but if it was, she wasn’t going down without a fight or leaving a lasting impact against the son of a bitch that caused her death… Si’a would have a fighting chance at being found before they could dispose of her and her baby. At the very least, she was buying them time with her own expiration – that was something she considered so very worth it.

But when the Orion cried out in surprise, dropping her in order to reach for an injured, and presumably missing, eyeball, Valeese gasped and choked for air.

Hot orange blood marred her perfect porcelain skin, running down her naked arm in rivulets away from her fingers. She was shaking, trembling like a leaf from adrenaline and the sudden rush of oxygenated blood to her brain. Any second she was going to pass out – but not before she made a made dash for vessel’s bridge. It was small, not much larger than a runabout, and she could see the dimly lit instrument panel from where she lay curled against the cold deck. “Run!” She choked, forcing herself to her feet and stumbling as quickly as she could in that direction.

Buttons and controls became toys and Valeese pressed any and every bit of equipment that she could in hopes that the coms were still functional in some capacity. It was only after she heard the successful chirp that an open hailing frequency had been created that she was rushed from behind, slammed against the console. “JAMES!” the ghost’s name was shrilled thinly as mammoth green fingers once more closed on her larynx, choking off her air supply once again and forcing her face, brow first, into the deck as the Orion successful tackled her down and away from everything.

Please, whatever God is listening, let someone investigate the signal and find out where its from. Let him know…

“NOT A CHANCE!” He spat, shaking her like a rag doll, “Whoever the fuck he is, he’s dead! You’re dead, bitch! I’ll be the last thing you ever knew because you couldn’t just shut the fuck up like a good little girl!” The beratement continued with his heavy body straddling hers, keeping her pinned and prone while his grip continued to tighten, and the shaking continued, “I OWN you! I took you! I held you! You were mine to do with what I wanted! and I chose to end you! Teach you to fuck with my ship you nasty sl—”

“Ngezzod! Stop! STOP!” His partner had him by the shoulders, dragging him off the lifeless, limp body of the beaten little Vorta. She lay there, her neck awkwardly turning her head so that her cheek was flush with the floor. Blood began to seep from her nose and the corner of her partially opened mouth. It didn’t take him long to register that she had expired, or was about to. “Ass! She’s money! She’s fucking money! WE can fix the bloody ship! We can’t capture another Vorta!”

“She’s dead.”

“Mostly! I can give her a dose of adrenaline to her heart. Get her warm, Ngezzod! Start chest compressions! She is LATINUM. I’ll feed you to the fucking targs myself if she’s dead!” The other Orion was in near panic as he grabbed around a console for a vial and an old syringe. Hypos wouldn’t work here and his big hands were almost too clumsy, especially when shaking, to do what was necessary when it came to drawing up the dose. The whole time he watched the bloody and newly cycloptic Ngezzod grab the Vorta and haphazardly palpate her chest until picking up a decent rhythm in an admittedly awkward attempt to get the thing’s heart started again. Seconds later, the big life-giving muscle was pierced by a rather large needle jammed through her chest with a heavy payload of adrenaline that would bring her gasping back from the brink. “Stop her from moving! Her neck! I think you broke it!”


“Not broken. She wouldn’t be breathing or able to move if I broke it.” Ngezzod grumbled, sending his fist into his brother’s shoulder, knocking him off balance. While his brother was right, the Vorta was money, she would need to be taught a lesson. A severe lesson. “After we win her… We break her.”

“No one will want that.” His brother snapped, righting himself and dragging medical supplies out. Regenerators and medicine would be their best friends at this point if they wanted a presentable creature to send out across that stage.

“No one will know. You will fix it, Rassid, you will fix it like you’re fixing her now.” The larger Orion snorted, doing his best to squash his still rolling anger as he gazed down on the tiny little being that had fought like a hell cat. “She took my eye, Rassid… She will pay.”

“She should have taken your life! Idiot! Get the hell out of here and start working on the ship. If she doesn’t make it, I’ll take your other fucking eye!” Another set of grumbled swears, all of them in their native tongue, poured like brandy from Rassid’s mouth as he continued to crudely repair the damage dealt to the woman below. It was only when he climbed to his feet, cradling her shaking and barely conscious body, that he saw the light blinking that indicated an open frequency. “No one is listening, girl, you’re too far in the black.” He snorted, closing it and shaking his head. Having her around would be the end of her.

Ngezzod would have his way eventually.

---

Commander Valeese
Chief Medical Officer
COLD STATION THETA, SB-1170

Ngezzod & Rassid
Orion Syndicate
APB SPACEMAN