Fear was the last thing that she wanted to feel as soon as her Prowler
docked in the docking bay. She had spent all her life trying not to give in
to that feeling, even before she retained Aeryn's sense of honor and duty,
and Crichton's courage and stability. Heaven help her though, in the belly
of the beast itself, the Command Carrier, she was afraid.
There was an overwhelming chance that she wouldn't make it out alive. She knew that the moment she figured out how to save her parents, which made it all the more reason not to tell her friends about it. However, Solaris knew that if this one shot worked.......
Hey, call it wishful thinking, call it heroic selflessness, call it whatever the frell you wanted to, because despite the risks, the sacrifices, the fact that every step inward could be a step into no return...... in her mind, it was all well worth it.
Swallowing her fear and instead, transferred it into anger that could be used later, she shut down the Prowler, and popped the top of the ship's cockpit open, taking a deep breath as she climbed out and dropped straight down onto the hard, steely floor.
As soon as her feet touched the base, a tall and lanky boy about her age came towards her, his blue and black suit representing his status as a mechanic. He was taller than her, by about a good 5 inches or more, with tawny colored hair and dark roots, his green eyes seemingly eager to engage her, "Welcome to the Command Carrier, Lieutenant, My name is--"
She cut him off as she stalked towards him and sent his bottom jaw snapping into the top with the palm of her hand and elbowed him in the gut. Taken aback, he reeled, and she grabbed him from behind, Winona slipping from her holster and taking up a new position at the base of his skull. "Don't. Move."
He felt the gun underneath his Adam's apple and scowled, "Who are you!??!"
"SHUT UP, or so help me my trigger finger's going to slip, ok Flyboy?"
The boy glared at her, "And if I don't? What if I do........ this!" Suddenly, he fell forward and kicked his leg out, catching her in the back of the knee as they both fell to the ground, and Winona sent spinning out of her hand and clattering to the floor.
Solaris cursed and snapped her foot up, catching him in the mouth, "Ornery little bastard, aren't you?"
He sprawled on the floor and tasted blood, "I don't know who you are but--"
"Don't you ever stop talking!??! Right now, I am SO NOT IN THE MOOD!" She hissed back at him, and flipped herself into a standing position, another pulse pistol seemingly coming out of nowhere from her hip holster, and pointed directly at his head, "Now I don't know about you, but you got three options Buster. One is you come with me, quietly, and you help me get what I need, let me go, and you can forget about this meeting like it never happened. Two, You protest, I shoot you in the leg, and you STILL help me get the stuff I need so that I can say sayonara and this never happened. Three, I kill you right here, right now, no questions asked and I go find myself another lackey. Got it?"
"What makes you think I'm going to go with you?" he spat back.
"Because right now, you either go with me, or you're a loose end that I have to kill. Listen pal, I'm not in the mood to kill anyone right now, unless you're a half Scarran pile of dren, ok? Besides, what are you, a mechanic? Trying to be part of the main crew or the ship or somethin'?"
He stiffened under her gunpoint, "That's none of your business....."
Solaris laughed aloud, "How old are you? 14? 15?"
"17."
"Oh, so you're actually older than me. Ha, sucks to be you......"
Now it was his turn to crack a bit of laughter, "Who are you?" he inquired.
His laughter seemed to unnerve her, and she froze in on herself, "Someone who's here for one reason and one reason only: justice."
Those eyes of his seemed to mesmerize her when he replied, "And you think you'll get this when you kill Scorpius?"
"Pshhhh, for one thing, he's, for once, not at the top of my list right now...." Angered, she shot her pulse pistol at his right foot, and grinned when he snapped it back in the nick of time, "Are you coming along or do I have to kill you? I'll tell you this, Flyboy, I'm a pretty good shot......"
"What makes you think I'll go with you?"
"Do we have to go back to this again? Just MOVE IT!!!" Suddenly impatient and alert, Solaris quickly scanned the room, "Hopefully no one saw this little meet...... Now," she kept the gun trained on him but helped him get to his feet, "get up, we're leaving."
The guy struggled to his feet, and, to her surprise, didn't protest, "Fine. Where are you leading me anyway?"
"Somewhere where I can get the parts that I need. Now, move it Ducky, you've quacked at me long enough. And by the way? Be a dear and go get Winona before I kick your ass. And don't even think about shooting me with her, because I changed a few things inside of it to make it more effective. It'll only shoot when I hold it."
"Well, that's comforting...."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"What do you need?" he asked for the millionth time, as she shoved him through empty corridor after empty corridor.
"What's it to you? You want to rat on me when--"she cut herself off as a Peacekeeper high officer walked past them, and she hid the gun behind her back.
Thinking he could run, the guy started to bolt, but as soon as the Peacekeeper passed them, she grasped him in a painful place by his neck, cutting of the blood flow in his shoulder, "God you're a pain in the ass."
"OW, do you even know what the frell you're doing? You're on the Command Carrier, WITH A GUN, and pointing it at me."
"Your point?"
"Do you even know my name? You can be demoted to a lower rank for taking me hostage."
"In there," she hissed, and steered him towards a maintenance terminal off to their right, "and SHUT UP! I'm trigger happy and when I'm not happy, I tend to use that skill more than anything."
He frowned at her, but didn't say anything else when he opened up the hatch and started to descend.
Slowly, she followed him down, still training her gun on him, "If it would make you happy and will get you to shut up, what's your name?"
"And I should tell you this, WHY?" he spat at her, suddenly angry, "Why should I tell you that?"
In the low light of the circular maintenance tunnel, it dawned on her, "You're not a Peacekeeper were you? You're just Sebacean, aren't you?"
The silence between the two lasted for a few minutes before he replied, "Jace. Officer Jace Koen."
She smiled, "Nice to meet you, Jace, and since we're doing introductions--"
"Don't bother, I already know who you are, Talia."
Sidestepping wires, she surprised him when she said, "That's not my name. I'm Solaris."
"Solaris...... pretty name."
"Is that a compliment?"
He turned on her in a flurry, and was surprised to see not a single gun pointed at his chest or head. Wide eyes grew wider in awe, "How long have you been unarmed?"
"Since you decided to finally be a gentleman and introduce yourself."
For the third time, he pursued his question, "Who are you?"
"Someone you have never met before in your life and never will again. Look, I'm a fair shot with the 'point and shoot' tactics, but let's get something straight here. I won't shoot if you're going along with me, alright?"
Pausing, the guy shuffled his feet and considered before running a hand through his hair, turned around, and sighed, "Fine, but only because you have a gun, I'm unarmed, and the sooner we go the sooner we can part ways. Do you have any idea where you're going?"
"You could say that," came the muttered reply, and she tapped the temple of her skull, "I need to get to the mechanical laboratory to retrieve that Ixion class transmodulator."
"YOU WANT THAT!?!?!?" his voice came high and shrill in surprise, "Are you criminally insane? You can't steal the Ixion transmodulator!"
Her hand smacked him upside the head, "Lead the way Flyboy."
The two walked on in silence after that, through the dank and dark tunnels with the light growing ever dimmer, and Jace leading the way. It had seemed that they were walking forever when he finally said, "Here, up this ladder and we'll be in the lab."
He started to climb the metallic ladder in the wall when she pulled him back down, and started going up, "Wait here, ok? You've helped me this far, and I'm still going to trust you....... I promise you, if you stick around me long enough, you'll get rewarded for it."
Climbing the rungs, she could feel her excitement grow more and more with every step she took up, but something seemed to be the matter. In the back of her mind, something nagged at her, and she had put it off until this moment. What was it that seemed so wrong here? The nagging persistence kept creeping back into her head when she traveled up the ladder, up and up and up until she could twist the tunnel door open, and into the bright light of freedom.
A flash of light met her eyes, her grip released, and then there was nothing left to do but fall.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
He had a hard time carrying her up the rungs of the ladder, but Jace managed, grunting with the work and with her on his shoulder in a fireman's carry. Slowly he inched his way upwards until he felt the hands of the patrol officers take her from him, and he met Scorpius eye to eye.
"I see you delivered, Officer Koen."
He nodded curtly, and swept his foot over the threshold, gallant chivalry replaced by military antiquity, "Yes, sir, just as I promised."
Scorpius grinned wide with his blackened teeth, "Then I see a promotion is in order... Follow the prisoner to my quarters, and strap her to the Aurora Chair. Hopefully she can be of some use to me."
------------------------------------
YM: DSP, you are probably the only one who reads this fic religiously, so here you go with another update on mine lol! It's cuz of you that I'm updating this thing AT ALL so you RULE.
There was an overwhelming chance that she wouldn't make it out alive. She knew that the moment she figured out how to save her parents, which made it all the more reason not to tell her friends about it. However, Solaris knew that if this one shot worked.......
Hey, call it wishful thinking, call it heroic selflessness, call it whatever the frell you wanted to, because despite the risks, the sacrifices, the fact that every step inward could be a step into no return...... in her mind, it was all well worth it.
Swallowing her fear and instead, transferred it into anger that could be used later, she shut down the Prowler, and popped the top of the ship's cockpit open, taking a deep breath as she climbed out and dropped straight down onto the hard, steely floor.
As soon as her feet touched the base, a tall and lanky boy about her age came towards her, his blue and black suit representing his status as a mechanic. He was taller than her, by about a good 5 inches or more, with tawny colored hair and dark roots, his green eyes seemingly eager to engage her, "Welcome to the Command Carrier, Lieutenant, My name is--"
She cut him off as she stalked towards him and sent his bottom jaw snapping into the top with the palm of her hand and elbowed him in the gut. Taken aback, he reeled, and she grabbed him from behind, Winona slipping from her holster and taking up a new position at the base of his skull. "Don't. Move."
He felt the gun underneath his Adam's apple and scowled, "Who are you!??!"
"SHUT UP, or so help me my trigger finger's going to slip, ok Flyboy?"
The boy glared at her, "And if I don't? What if I do........ this!" Suddenly, he fell forward and kicked his leg out, catching her in the back of the knee as they both fell to the ground, and Winona sent spinning out of her hand and clattering to the floor.
Solaris cursed and snapped her foot up, catching him in the mouth, "Ornery little bastard, aren't you?"
He sprawled on the floor and tasted blood, "I don't know who you are but--"
"Don't you ever stop talking!??! Right now, I am SO NOT IN THE MOOD!" She hissed back at him, and flipped herself into a standing position, another pulse pistol seemingly coming out of nowhere from her hip holster, and pointed directly at his head, "Now I don't know about you, but you got three options Buster. One is you come with me, quietly, and you help me get what I need, let me go, and you can forget about this meeting like it never happened. Two, You protest, I shoot you in the leg, and you STILL help me get the stuff I need so that I can say sayonara and this never happened. Three, I kill you right here, right now, no questions asked and I go find myself another lackey. Got it?"
"What makes you think I'm going to go with you?" he spat back.
"Because right now, you either go with me, or you're a loose end that I have to kill. Listen pal, I'm not in the mood to kill anyone right now, unless you're a half Scarran pile of dren, ok? Besides, what are you, a mechanic? Trying to be part of the main crew or the ship or somethin'?"
He stiffened under her gunpoint, "That's none of your business....."
Solaris laughed aloud, "How old are you? 14? 15?"
"17."
"Oh, so you're actually older than me. Ha, sucks to be you......"
Now it was his turn to crack a bit of laughter, "Who are you?" he inquired.
His laughter seemed to unnerve her, and she froze in on herself, "Someone who's here for one reason and one reason only: justice."
Those eyes of his seemed to mesmerize her when he replied, "And you think you'll get this when you kill Scorpius?"
"Pshhhh, for one thing, he's, for once, not at the top of my list right now...." Angered, she shot her pulse pistol at his right foot, and grinned when he snapped it back in the nick of time, "Are you coming along or do I have to kill you? I'll tell you this, Flyboy, I'm a pretty good shot......"
"What makes you think I'll go with you?"
"Do we have to go back to this again? Just MOVE IT!!!" Suddenly impatient and alert, Solaris quickly scanned the room, "Hopefully no one saw this little meet...... Now," she kept the gun trained on him but helped him get to his feet, "get up, we're leaving."
The guy struggled to his feet, and, to her surprise, didn't protest, "Fine. Where are you leading me anyway?"
"Somewhere where I can get the parts that I need. Now, move it Ducky, you've quacked at me long enough. And by the way? Be a dear and go get Winona before I kick your ass. And don't even think about shooting me with her, because I changed a few things inside of it to make it more effective. It'll only shoot when I hold it."
"Well, that's comforting...."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"What do you need?" he asked for the millionth time, as she shoved him through empty corridor after empty corridor.
"What's it to you? You want to rat on me when--"she cut herself off as a Peacekeeper high officer walked past them, and she hid the gun behind her back.
Thinking he could run, the guy started to bolt, but as soon as the Peacekeeper passed them, she grasped him in a painful place by his neck, cutting of the blood flow in his shoulder, "God you're a pain in the ass."
"OW, do you even know what the frell you're doing? You're on the Command Carrier, WITH A GUN, and pointing it at me."
"Your point?"
"Do you even know my name? You can be demoted to a lower rank for taking me hostage."
"In there," she hissed, and steered him towards a maintenance terminal off to their right, "and SHUT UP! I'm trigger happy and when I'm not happy, I tend to use that skill more than anything."
He frowned at her, but didn't say anything else when he opened up the hatch and started to descend.
Slowly, she followed him down, still training her gun on him, "If it would make you happy and will get you to shut up, what's your name?"
"And I should tell you this, WHY?" he spat at her, suddenly angry, "Why should I tell you that?"
In the low light of the circular maintenance tunnel, it dawned on her, "You're not a Peacekeeper were you? You're just Sebacean, aren't you?"
The silence between the two lasted for a few minutes before he replied, "Jace. Officer Jace Koen."
She smiled, "Nice to meet you, Jace, and since we're doing introductions--"
"Don't bother, I already know who you are, Talia."
Sidestepping wires, she surprised him when she said, "That's not my name. I'm Solaris."
"Solaris...... pretty name."
"Is that a compliment?"
He turned on her in a flurry, and was surprised to see not a single gun pointed at his chest or head. Wide eyes grew wider in awe, "How long have you been unarmed?"
"Since you decided to finally be a gentleman and introduce yourself."
For the third time, he pursued his question, "Who are you?"
"Someone you have never met before in your life and never will again. Look, I'm a fair shot with the 'point and shoot' tactics, but let's get something straight here. I won't shoot if you're going along with me, alright?"
Pausing, the guy shuffled his feet and considered before running a hand through his hair, turned around, and sighed, "Fine, but only because you have a gun, I'm unarmed, and the sooner we go the sooner we can part ways. Do you have any idea where you're going?"
"You could say that," came the muttered reply, and she tapped the temple of her skull, "I need to get to the mechanical laboratory to retrieve that Ixion class transmodulator."
"YOU WANT THAT!?!?!?" his voice came high and shrill in surprise, "Are you criminally insane? You can't steal the Ixion transmodulator!"
Her hand smacked him upside the head, "Lead the way Flyboy."
The two walked on in silence after that, through the dank and dark tunnels with the light growing ever dimmer, and Jace leading the way. It had seemed that they were walking forever when he finally said, "Here, up this ladder and we'll be in the lab."
He started to climb the metallic ladder in the wall when she pulled him back down, and started going up, "Wait here, ok? You've helped me this far, and I'm still going to trust you....... I promise you, if you stick around me long enough, you'll get rewarded for it."
Climbing the rungs, she could feel her excitement grow more and more with every step she took up, but something seemed to be the matter. In the back of her mind, something nagged at her, and she had put it off until this moment. What was it that seemed so wrong here? The nagging persistence kept creeping back into her head when she traveled up the ladder, up and up and up until she could twist the tunnel door open, and into the bright light of freedom.
A flash of light met her eyes, her grip released, and then there was nothing left to do but fall.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
He had a hard time carrying her up the rungs of the ladder, but Jace managed, grunting with the work and with her on his shoulder in a fireman's carry. Slowly he inched his way upwards until he felt the hands of the patrol officers take her from him, and he met Scorpius eye to eye.
"I see you delivered, Officer Koen."
He nodded curtly, and swept his foot over the threshold, gallant chivalry replaced by military antiquity, "Yes, sir, just as I promised."
Scorpius grinned wide with his blackened teeth, "Then I see a promotion is in order... Follow the prisoner to my quarters, and strap her to the Aurora Chair. Hopefully she can be of some use to me."
------------------------------------
YM: DSP, you are probably the only one who reads this fic religiously, so here you go with another update on mine lol! It's cuz of you that I'm updating this thing AT ALL so you RULE.