Asylum
By Skyie
A/N: This story will be rated M due to violence, language, and sexuality later in the story.
The piercing blasts of the alarms were deafening. The lights were going on and off in an erratic pattern, almost light a strobe light, making seeing across the ships control room nearly impossible.
Four women sat tensely at now minimally functioning control panels. Their fate was in the hands of their pursuers. Their ship had sustained catastrophic damage during the attack and their desperate attempt to flee. The ship was too old, too outdated, slow, and lacking weaponry to withstand the focused assault.
"Targus to Emperia, it's over, prepare to be boarded" Somehow the warning managed to come through the jammed communications system.
The oldest of the women stiffened her shoulders and breathed a deep and resigned sigh as she looked at the three other women. All were refugees having committed no crime other than the DNA in their bodies. They had been held as "guests" of the Talagarans for so many years now that their spirits had been tried to the point of nearly breaking. The Talagarans viewed them as property, not free beings with rights and freedoms granted to those fortunate enough to be born male. They were doubly condemned because their genetic makeup was among the purest in a race rapidly losing itself to inbreeding. The Talagarans tolerated no outside alien blood in their recognized genealogy. Such offspring were considered impure and shunned.
"We don't have much time" said the woman at the communications console. She pushed a wave of her dark hair away from her face. "I might be able to send one more distress call out if we can get the Targus to open their communication link to us again. Their jamming signal deactivates for a split moment then."
The woman sitting at the smoking weapons console gave a soft laugh, "May the Spirits bless us and be thankful that we are worth more alive and undamaged. I can keep the shield flux generator going for a bit longer to keep them from attaching anything to our hull. Once that goes we will be essentially defenseless." She focused her icy grey eyes on the older woman sitting in the command chair, "We will have to make the decision soon".
"I'm not going back. We all know what's waiting for us back there. No matter how they try to sell it, we will be nothing more than slaves for their genetic breeding program. "The auburn haired woman at the navigational controls said bitterly. She also looked at the woman in the command chair with an unspoken question in her deep blue eyes.
The older woman sat up a bit more in the command chair and stiffened her shoulders, "Kiana, open the communications link and see if you can get the Targus to respond. Send out the embedded distress calls on all frequencies. Right now we don't have many options. We can only hope that whoever hears us decides to respond, and is friendlier than the Targus.
"Spirit guide and protects us……" Kiana said softly as she opened the communication channel, "Targus this is the Emperia. We are having communication difficulties. Can you hear us?" Kiana looked over at the auburn haired woman and smiled briefly, "Not all hope is lost Ania. The moment they respond I will have the distress signals sent out. I should be able to delay them a bit."
"And I may be able to set a few unpleasant surprises when our shield flux generator finally goes. I didn't train the last ten years of my life as a weapons specialist to limit my abilities to a basic weapons console." Said the woman at the weapons console as she stood up and stretched. She looked over at the command chair, "Do you think you can manage without me for a while Tara?"
Tara nodded and smiled grimly, "Yes. We don't have communications inside the ship now so be careful."
As the weapons specialist left the ships control room Ania shook her head with a look of disbelief on her delicate features, "Cadea will leave some devastating devices if I know her at all."
Tara stared straight out at the view of the Targus on the main viewing screen, "Not devastating enough if they succeed in boarding us." She looked over at Kiana questioningly.
"Emperia you have 30 seconds to lower your flux shields. You will be boarded"
Kiana smirked briefly as she sent out the distress signal. She then reopened the communication channel with the Targus, "Targus, your attack has damaged many of our ships systems. Most of our controls are not functioning. We had to patch a link just to get the communication channel to work."
The male voice that responded from the Targus was harsh and arrogant, "You WILL lower your flux shields, now!"
Kiana glowered at the communications controls, "Not much of a conversationalist are you? Maybe it's all the inbreeding and testosterone in the military." She watched the signal strength indicator as it flashed and then went blank. She checked the embedded signal status, "Its been sent. Now we hang on as long as we can".
Ania shuddered at a not so distant memory and shut her eyes. Tara watched the younger woman with worry. Ania had been the first of them to endure the humiliation and pain in their early capture. She had withdrawn into a shell and lost the spark of life in her eyes until one day Tara started their plans for escape. Tara knew Ania kept the deadly dose of the Senity capsules close at hand at all times. Her fear of ever being captured by the Talagarans again made the painful death of the Senity poison seem more of a blessing. Tara touched the pocket containing her own Senity capsules and wondered at what point would she herself have to make that final decision. She knew she would not face the same fate as the others if the Talagarans managed to board the Emperia. After she was deemed too old for child bearing, she had been charged with the care of the last three remaining pure blood Talagaran females. She had planned their escape down to the last detail, carefully stealing supplies and access codes after lulling their guards and caretakers into believing she was too broken down and subdued to be any sort of a threat. She knew her fate would be eventual death, but death with a great deal of pain and suffering before it would ever come.
The Emperia rocked violently from a blast of fire from the Targus close to the hull. "They're going to try to drain the flux shields with that skimming fire over our hull" Kiana stated flatly. She glanced back at Tara, "We will only be able to take two or three more of those shots."
Tara nodded, "Can you pick up any response or any ships on long range scans?"
"Nothing yet. No ships detected."
Another blast of fire rocked the Emperia forcefully enough to cause several of the ships command control panels to burst into sparks and smoke. Kiana jumped back away from the communications controls as they began sparking and smoking, "I've lost communications and sensors!"
"I'm reading only five percent left in the flux shield generator. They'll be able to board us after the next hit" Ania said flatly. She looked over to her closest friend, "Kiana, I'd hoped we would make it….." her voice trailed off and she brushed at the tears starting to form in her eyes.
Kiana went over and wrapped her arms around Ania in a comforting hug. She wished she could say words of reassurance to Ania but knew they would only be a lie. They were going to be recaptured or decided to take the Senity capsules.
The ship was rocked a final time and the systems inside went dark. The three women in the ships command center were thrown onto the floor with the force of the blast. Thick smoke poured out of destroyed control panels. The ship shuddered and the interior climate controls went offline. The three women in the command center were immediately knocked unconscious by the sudden loss of climate control. As the ship began to cool and depressurize their hearts began to slow down and labor to beat.
"Cats Lair to Thunderstrike. Did you find them?"
Tygra frowned as he focused on the control panels of the Thunderstrike. "We've found them. Their ship has been disabled and they are losing all interior climate control. They'll be dead in minutes if we don't get them out of there fast." He looked over at the younger Thundarian, "Bengali, you and Pumira go over with Panthro to get them. They don't have much time left."
Tygra made another attempt to contact the nearly destroyed ship, "Emperia, this is the Thunderstrike. We are boarding you for rescue. Respond if you are able." No response.
Tygra monitored the others as they boarded the ship and approached three of the four remaining life signs on the ship. The fourth life sign had been further in the rear of the ship near the main access hatch. When they had arrived in the area of the distress call, they found the Emperia being fired on by a larger and more heavily armored ship, the Targus. The Targus had withdrawn to a distance away from the Emperia and allowed the Thunderstrike to approach. Tygra kept a nervous eye on the Targus. So far no one on that ship had returned his attempts to communicate.
"Tygra, we have the three from the control room. Pumira is staying with them while Panthro and I go after the last one. There were some explosive charges set in the hatchway. I think they were planning to be boarded" Bengalia sounded almost out of breath. They were having to work fast before the last of the breathable air on the Emperia expired.
When the last rescue was on board the Thunderstrike, Tygra hailed Lion-O, "Cats Lair, we have them. The ship that was attacking them has backed off and refuses to answer any attempts at communication. Their ships systems are out but the ship might be salvageable."
Lion-O hesitated before replying. Why wasn't the other ship replying? Why were they attacking the Emperia? He tightened his lips into a frown. If they other ship was not going to provide and explanation for their actions, the Thundercats were going to help the crew of the Emperia which also meant attempting to salvage or repair the ship, "Tow the ship back. We'll see you back at Cats Lair soon."