Absicon Universe: Queen Lucrecia's Shadow Pt3

Hello all!

Sorry for the lack of posts, been quite busy and still having some computer problems. A few friends and I went on a delightful wine tasting trip to the Hunter Valley last weekend, so I missed out on a bit of writing that weekend, but I'm not complaining.

Anyway, I finally finished part three of Queen Lucrecia's Shadow. Enjoy!


Dorian took Carmichael with him. He'd be damned if he'd be going into a potentially hostile situation without some backup. Carmichael had objected at first, but eventually capitulated – he was, after all the security expert.
Dorian had a sidearm attached to his belt – a multi-setting energy pistol. He wore it only as a show of force. He wasn't going to let the situation get to the point where he would have to kill one of his own crew members. He had, however instructed Carmichael to arm himself with a hybrid battle rifle just in case. The hybrid rifle was overkill, really – like killing an ant with a bazooka – but Dorian always entered a potentially hostile situation with overwhelming superiority. He'd had enough of being out-numbered and out-gunned during the war.
It was a short walk from the forward elevator to the Xenology labs. The Amethystine was relatively small, as far as FTL capable ships went, but it was still almost three hundred meters long, and with only two elevator shafts it could take some time to reach a destination. They'd reached the Xenology labs quickly, however, and now the two of them stood in front of the electric doors preparing themselves to enter.
"I've got a real bad feeling about this, Cap'n." Carmichael said his voice strong, although laced with nervousness. "This is a bad fuckin' idea."
"It's necessary." Dorian replied.
"Why?" Carmichael asked. "I say keep her locked in there. Let the solitude work whatever got into her on that planet out."
"If we lock her in there, then our mission is a failure." Dorian said. "She's the god-damn Xenologist, for Christ's sake. Without her we turn around now and head home as failures."
"Sounds like a plan to me." Carmichael said. "No-one's gonna give a shit about this mission back home anyway."
"We're not going back early." Dorian said, keeping his anger in check – not because he wanted to, but because Carmichael held the larger weapon, and wouldn't hesitate to use it if he were provoked. That was the reason Dorian had brought him along in the first place – he was ruthless.
"Whatever." Carmichael said. "Let's just get this over and done with."
He hefted the battle rifle up to his shoulder – not in a firing position, but in a position that if he needed to begin shooting, then he could do so quickly. Dorian nodded once at him, and hit the button to open the door.
The xenology lab was basically one big room with glass separating different annexes and the sterilized examination rooms. A passageway on one wall lead to the quarantine rooms.
The first thing Dorian noticed as he entered the labs was the lighting. They were very dim, although every so often they flickered, giving the labs a very foreboding atmosphere. It was as though something was draining the power that was entering the labs, although that was not possible, as it would have drawn the attention of Carmen, the Amethystine's AI and Fletcher, the engineer.
All of the computer monitors were scrambled, displaying nothing but static – at least that's what Dorian first thought. Upon closer inspection, it appeared that the monitors were actually streaming tiny figures – figures that were not from a human language. He watched the blue and white figures streaming down the black screens and wondered what the hell they were. Some kind of computer language? Not likely, considering Dorian was more fluent in most computer languages than he was in anything but English...
He peered around the rest of the lab. At first he though violence had occurred within, as though someone had trashed the labs, but then he understood the mess for what it was – the mess left by a scientist who had done nothing but work for weeks strait. Papers, empty coffee cups and PDA's lay scattered on almost every surface. Here and there he noticed clumps of hair – human hair – sitting in the same place they had been left when they had been torn out of the scalp. He recognised the hair colour as Dr. Grey's.
"Come on out, bitch!" Carmichael called, making Dorian jump.
"Shhhh!" Dorian hissed. "Keep your fucking mouth shut, Carmichael!"
Carmichael gave Dorian a nasty look and then shrugged, waving Dorian on. Without even thinking about it, Dorian reached down and withdrew his sidearm, keeping it pointed at the ground, but ready to use. Something was very wrong.
"Doctor Grey?" He called. "Jasmine... we're here to help. Where are you?"
A slight breeze filled the normally still and sterile air. Dorian frowned and peered around. When the voice came, he almost jumped out of his skin.
"I am curious." The voice said. "Tell me: in what way are you able to 'help' me?"
The voice seemed to echo around the lab, and was not quite human – although it was almost certainly that of Jasmine Grey. It had an electrical tinge to it, as though she were speaking through a computer instead of a voice-box.
"Something is obviously wrong, doctor." Dorian said. "You need help. Where are you?"
Her voice let out a laugh that sent shivers down Dorian's spine.
"I am here, there and everywhere." She said in almost a sigh.
"Cap'n this is wrong." Carmichael said, lowering his rifle to his shoulder, and sweeping the room. "She gone fuckin' insane."
Dorian breathed deeply and ignored Carmichael. He felt another breeze and suddenly had the urge to look up. He tilted his head back, and gasped. Grey was 'lying' on the roof, her body in the shape of a crucifix, tangled in power conduits and wiring. Her eyes glowed blue, and her long hair was static, and standing on end. Every so often a bolt of blue electricity ran across her body, but if it hurt, then she showed no sign of it.
"What the fuck?" Carmichael gasped. He raised his rifle and pointed it at her, his finger on the trigger, but he did not fire. Dorian couldn't help but point his pistol up as well.
"Jasmine... what's going on?" He asked, even though he knew it was stupid. "Come down."
"As you wish." She answered.
The wires and conduits began to wriggle way from her body and within seconds her body was free. Dorian expected her to fall, then, but her body remained up against the ceiling, held there by electrical currents that coursed across her body. She slowly began to float down toward the floor. Dorian and Carmichael took a few steps back and followed her body with their guns. She touched down on the floor and the papers scattered on the floor began to swirl around.
"I ask you again," She asked, her voice still tinged with its electrical sound. "In what way are you able to help me?"
"I don't know." Dorian answered. "I don't know what's wrong with you."
"Why do you think something is wrong with me?" She asked. "I feel alive... more alive than ever. This body is intoxicating."
Dorian and Carmichael gave each other and uneasy glance with that last comment.
"Look, Jasmine. I don't know what's going on, but something is wrong." Dorian said. "This... this is not normal."
"You keep calling me that name." She answered. "Is that the name of the one who I inhabit?"
Dorian and Carmichael glanced nervously at each other again, and Dorian raised his eyebrows.
"If you ain't Jasmine Grey, then who the fuck are you?" Carmichael demanded.
"Carmichael!" Dorian snapped.
"Nah, fuck this, Cap'n." Carmichael answered. "You can play at diplomacy all you want, but this is all fucked up. You're gonna tell me who you think you are, bitch, or I'm going to blow a hole the size of a fist through that freakin' body!"
Grey, or whoever she thought she was smiled an amused smile, before raising her arms as if she were addressing a loyal following of some kind.
"You may address me as Queen Lucrecia." She said. "The regal leader of the Hirokian people."
"The Hirokian people?" Dorian asked, confused.
"This is wrong." Carmichael said. "I don't usually pick too much up on the planets, but one thing I remember is that the people of FT-301/4 called 'emselves that. I'm telling you something happened in that temple thing."
Grey raised an eyebrow.
"I am growing tired of this." She said. "Leave me now."
"We're not going anywhere." Dorian said. "I want to know exactly what you think is going on."
"I am busy." Grey responded with an icy glare. "I have discovered much of your people, but I have much more to learn. One thing intrigues me, however. Your race has encountered the Beast from the Stars, yet you still exist. It is curious. Perhaps there is more to your race than meets the eye."
Dorian didn't understand what she was talking about at first, but then he understood. 'Beast from the Stars' could have mean only one thing: the Vendo'Rpah. Comprehension must have flooded over Dorian's face, because Grey smiled.
"What the hell are you talking about, Lady?" Carmichael asked.
"Your captain understands."
"She means the Vendo'Rpah." Dorian said.
"Oh, those pricks. Kicked there asses, didn't we?"
"How?" Grey asked. "It intrigues me. You seem to have no records on how you defeated them. The data talks of a great war, but includes nothing on its conclusion."
"It's classified." Dorian said, firmly.
"Lies."
"He's telling you the truth, bitch. Even I don't know how the fuck we won that war." Carmichael said.
"What does it matter?" Dorian asked. "Your... Grey's reports mentioned that your people killed themselves off in a civil war. Nothing suggested that you had ever encountered the Vendo'Rpah. You never even developed space flight."
Grey smiled an evil smile.
"I said I led the Hirokians, I never said I was one of them." She waved a hand in the air. "I am becoming bored. You shall leave now."
"I don't think so." Dorian said, shaking his head slightly. "My ship, my rules."
"I will not tolerate this." She answered with a snarl.
The next thing Dorian knew, Grey held out an arm and a bolt of electricity shot out of her hand. It struck Dorian in the chest and he went flying up against a bulkhead. He moaned slightly, and Carmichael pointed his weapon at Grey. Dorian was clutching his chest when Carmichael looked at him.
"Cap'n?" He asked.
"Shoot her, for Christ's sake!" Dorian yelled.
It happened in slow motion. Carmichael's finger squeezed the trigger and three blue energy pulses shot out the barrel and struck Grey's torso. The energy seemed to be absorbed by her body, and she cackled an evil laugh.
"More please!" She cried in pleasure.
Dorian stood, and together he and Carmichael pumped pulse after pulse into Greys body. Not one single shot seemed to have the desired effect.
"This is not fuckin' good." Carmichael said.
"Switch your rifle to projectile mode." Dorian said while Grey seemed to be riding a high that the energy pulses seemed to have given her. Carmichael nodded, and spoke into his weapon.
"Projectile." He said simply, before spraying Grey with around thirty bullets. They carved holes through her body, and blood splattered on the bulkhead. Still she stood. And she looked pissed.
"That was not pleasant!" She screamed, dragging each word out as if they were each individual sentences. "I demand your obedience!"
She raised both of her hands, and the last thing Dorian remembered were blue bolts of energy striking him.


Hope you enjoyed part three. Hopefully there won't be as long of a wait for the next part.

In other news, I've done a fair bit more on EoA which I'm trying to fous on now. I have, however written down a few ideas for a sequal to EoA which I think will work well. More on these ideas later, perhaps!

Have a good night!