Leela's Training
Chapter 1
"Welcome"
Author's Note: I originally came up with the plot to this story as a one-shot, something to give me a break from my other project to keep myself from burning out from writer's block, but as I wrote it, I figured it deserved a little drawing out.
As with my other project, this story is rated M for adult content, including language, sexual situations, drug use and rape. If any of these things offend or disturb you, turn back now. Just assume that beyond this point, there be dragons.
As for the rest of you, read on...
Leela rolled her eye as she clicked her tongue, crossing her arms as she leaned into her seat.
The sleek private shuttle she occupied sliced through space with nary a sound. Her trademark white tank top provided little warmth in the cold interior of the shuttle, her skin-tight pants tucked neatly into her worn boots. She stared intently at the back of the head of the robot piloting the shuttle. Part of her uneasy irritation was that she was letting someone else fly a ship she was in, but mostly it was the suspicious nature of her trip...
"Leela!"
Professor Farnsworth stormed into the hangar as furiously as his fourteenth replacement hip would allow him to shuffle. The anger the Professor displayed caught Leela's trusty but incompetent crew, Fry and Bender, by surprise as they bolted upright, falling off the top of the ship and hitting the floor with a simultaneous "Oof!"
Leela looked up from the spot welding she was performing on the tail fin, raising up her mono-goggle and setting her plasma welder on the support scaffold. "What is it, Professor?"
She blinked when she noticed the suit walking behind Farnsworth. He looked familiar to Leela, but he didn't elicit a name or situation where she may have met him. He was somewhat modest looking, slightly taller than her, dark brown hair, his somewhat round face clean-shaven and framing an intimidating set of dark brown eyes. Leela felt a little uncomfortable when he fixated his gaze squarely on her, his face belaying no emotion.
What she did recognize was the ID card clipped to his generic business suit: Intergalactic Captain Certification Board.
"Oh lord," Leela muttered, putting her hand to her forehead. Standing up, she tossed her mono-goggle aside as she jumped over the railing of her scaffold.
Despite the considerable height, Leela landed rather gracefully on her feet, partially thanks to the man and robot groaning in pain under her feet, suddenly reintroduced to the floor as they were picking themselves up. Paying no heed to his ancestor's suffering, Farnsworth stormed up to his ship captain, the ICCB suit following close behind, his hands folded behind him.
"How many more times are you going to fail this certification test Leela?" Farnsworth fumed.
"I..."
"I'll tell you," the Professor cut her off. "ZERO! Never! You're out of chances! You failed the test too many times you frumpy cyclops!"
"Hey," Leela protested, "You know I have depth perception issues. This whole captain's license thing is stupid anyway. I'll have you know that I could pilot that ship just fine without the damn license."
"Excuse me, Miss Leela," the suit quipped up. "My name is David Provst, Special Instructor with the ICCB..."
Leela shot a death glare at David. "No offense Mr. Provst, but what the hell do you want?" She crossed her arms and took an aggressive stance, every shift of her body eliciting additional whimpers of agony from her living platforms.
"I'm in horrible pain," Bender meekly whined.
David cleared his throat, throwing that unsettling stare at Leela again. "As you know, new insurance regulations require all private starship captains to obtain licenses to operate their ships. Each captain has five chances to pass the test during a calendar year...you have failed five times in the past month."
Leela snorted, her purple ponytail whipping around her head as she snapped it. "So?"
"SO?" the Professor coughed. "So, you're grounded! We're not allowed to operate with you flying it without that license, and you can't take the test again until next year! And if you can't be the captain..."
A sudden look of concern crossed Leela's face as she lowered her arms. "But Professor...are you saying...I'm fired?" Her voice became squeaky as she fought back tears.
"That's why I'm here, Miss Leela," David piped up. "We can allow you to take the test one more time...if you successfully complete an intensive week-long one-on-one training program."
Leela glanced at David, that uneasy feeling creeping back into her chest. "And if I don't?"
Farnsworth fumed. "Then you'll be out of a job!"
David removed a card, handing it to Leela. "To prevent sabotage and cheating, the location of the class is kept secret. Be at the 5th Street Spaceport, at the gate and time listed on the card. A private shuttle will take you to the training facility."
As Leela read the card, David turned on his heels, walking away as he stated, "Pack light."
Leela read the card again as she rested her hand on her crossed legs, turning it in her fingers. She expected this mystery facility to be off-planet, but as she glanced out the window, she was surprised just how far off-planet it was. As meteoroids whizzed by outside, Leela was unsure if she could even reach Earth by subspace communication this far out.
Her penalty for going with AT&T, she figured.
She was stirred from her reverie as she felt the shuttle slow. As it banked, she stole a view of a large asteroid outside. On its surface, she spied a small habitation dome.
"Where are we?" Leela inquired on the pilot. The robot didn't respond, not because it couldn't speak, but because it was still mad that Leela insulted his flying.
As the shuttle came to a stop and the docking clamp hissed tight over the shuttle hatch, Leela stood. Exiting the shuttle when the door opened, the hatch snapped shut on Leela as she turned around to grab her luggage. Stepping back in surprise, the airlock hatch whooshed shut on her as she heard the shuttle disconnect on the other side with her bags inside.
Her loud protest of curses echoed through the airlock, falling on deaf ears, although she swore she heard the shuttle driver yell "that's what you get, bitch," as the craft and it's pilot soon disappeared into the starry void.
Letting out a dejected sigh, Leela turned away from her futile protesting and exited the airlock, finding herself in a long tunnel connecting the dock to what she assumed was the habitat dome. Approaching the far door, Leela was greeted by a white orb on the end of a mobile shaft. An unblinking blue eye shone on the end of the orb as a harsh mechanical tone filled the hallway. "Identify."
Leela stood straight. "Turanga Leela, of the Planet Express Delivery Company. I'm here for the remedial training."
The eye did not respond as the door in front of her clicked its' locks open, sliding ajar.
As Leela entered the dome, the door slid shut and remained locked behind her. She could not keep the shock off her face as she beheld the interior of the dome. She found herself standing in front of a gate for what resembled the shore of a mountain lake somewhere. The dome was not terribly big, however the concrete path led up a gentle, grassy hill to a modern-looking but modest manor, overlooking an artificial lakefront she estimated was no bigger than the area of a ship hangar.
From what Leela could see of the home outside, it looked more like a vacation retreat than a government facility. A wooden deck ringed the one-floor structure, large frosted-glass windows obscuring views inside as the walls of the dome projected an image of a pastoral, remote mountain valley meadow. The whole scene, while beautiful, further increased Leela's uneasiness at the situation. Her face contorted in concern, suddenly feeling very isolated. "What in the..."
"I apologize for the unusual setting." Leela blinked as she saw David, the ICCB suit from before, descend the walkway from the house. Instead of his generic suit, David was dressed in a regular white polo shirt emblazoned with the ICCB logo and a pair of khaki pants. "Being a government agency, we have to make do with what we get."
Leela tensed up a little more. "I thought this was supposed to be some kind of school."
David nodded, his exposed arms not particularly defined, but nicely tanned. "It is. This used to be a private residence that the government seized for tax reasons. We appropriated it for our use both because of its' remote location, and its low maintenance cost. Besides, this is a very intensive course...it helps to have facilities students can use to relax when not in class."
Leela pursed her pink-colored lips, relaxing a little.
David stopped in front of her. "Welcome to hell," he muttered, his hot, almost minty breath splashing Leela in the face. Leela's reservations returned as David flashed her an unsettling, almost sadistic grin. She figured that the course would be difficult.
Unfortunately, David's definition of hell would be something completely different.