Absicon Universe: Queen Lucrecia's Shadow Pt5
Enjoy!
Dorian approached the Xenology labs armed with a hybrid rifle and a sidearm. He was alone this time – not that he considered it a good idea, but because he needed the rest of the crew elsewhere if his plan was to work. He hesitated at the doors to the lab, and then walked towards them. They opened automatically.
The inside of the lab was much as he had last seen it, although the lighting had become even more erratic, as if it would give out at any second. There were scorch marks all over the walls and ceilings now, although whether that was from Lucrecia or from he and Carmichael's weapons blasts, he didn't know.
Lucrecia was on the far wall, cocooned in a huge amount of cables and flexible conduits. Her face was pulsing blue, and the veins in her head seemed ready to burst. Her hair was a mass off electrified tangles, burnt here and there from the incredible amount of electricity that coursed through her body. Her eyes were closed.
"Lucrecia!" Dorian called, keeping the muzzle of his weapon pointed away from her, but ready all the same. Not that their weapons seemed to do much last time.
No answer was forthcoming from the possessed scientist. Dorian sighed and scowled.
"Your Majesty." He said tentatively.
Grey's eyes opened, and they shone a violently glowing blue. Dorian doubted whether there was anything of Grey left in the body.
"Captain Hanson." She replied in an electric voice that could have been that of a faulty computer. "I didn't expect you to be back."
"I need to ask you some questions." Dorian continued. "About the Hirokians, and how you came to be with them."
Lucrecia smiled a vile smile and stepped away from the wall. The cables and conduits that had encased her fell away, and the motion of departing her cocoon seemed effortless. She took a few steps toward Dorian and stopped.
"You've been studying."
Dorian nodded and lowered his weapon. He realised belatedly that if the gun was needed then he was as good as dead.
"You're not of their world." Dorian stated, pacing slightly. "You came to them after –I'm assuming – your people were destroyed. By the Vendo'Rpah."
"The beast from the stars, yes." Lucrecia answered. "We fought them, just as you did. But unlike you, we were not victorious. I was the sole survivor – so to speak. I fled, and came here."
"You ruled them." Dorian said. "You turned them against each other. Incited war. In the end, it was you who destroyed them."
Lucrecia gave Dorian a vicious smile.
"It is through war that one learns the most about themselves." She said, taking another step closer to Dorian. "They destroyed themselves; I simply... showed them conflict."
"Why?" Dorian asked. "Why destroy a peaceful pre-industrial culture? They couldn't have harmed you. They were no threat to you."
Lucrecia hissed in disgust.
"They were so peaceful and placid it was sickening. They deserved to learn of conflict – of war."
"Why?"
"Because one day, when the beast came for them, they could at least die fighting!"
"You consider yourself a warrior?" Dorian asked, after a moment's hesitation.
"I am a warrior. I fought the beast. I have fought countless wars, and only then did I suffer defeat." She glared at him. "You consider what I did to the Hirokians as horrendous? War is existence. Conflict is existence. They weren't alive!"
"If conflict is all you've lived for, then you're missing out. I pity you." Dorian said quietly.
"Insolence!" Lucrecia snapped. "You are a warrior! You and your people defeated the Beast!"
"We defeated them simply to bring ourselves peace, not for the sake of fighting." Dorian said. "Perhaps you're right – perhaps war is something that defines all of us in a way. But there are so many other things, so many better things!"
"You are weak." Lucrecia hissed, rage filling her eyes. "To think that the ones who defeated the beast exist with these beliefs. I dreamed of meeting the ones who would eventually defeat them. In my minds eye, they were glorious, gods of nothing but war." She took a threatening step towards Dorian. "You... are a bitter disappointment."
"So be it." Dorian said, turning his back on her.
"To think that such a race is now the ultimate force in the galaxy. It is not right." She spat on the ground. "You did not even kill those you defeated. The beast still exists!"
"The Vendo'Rpah will not bother anyone else. When we defeated them, we took away their means to make war." Dorian said. "We gave them a chance to redeem themselves and to see the universe in the same light as we see it."
Lucrecia looked at him in horror.
"Incomprehensible!" She said in horror. She turned away momentarily, and then spun back and glared at Dorian. "You consider me a monster?"
Dorian realised for the first time at that moment that whatever Lucrecia was, she was utterly alien - alien not only in physical existence, but in mentality perhaps even more so.
"You must be stopped!" Lucrecia cried. "To have such a philosophy spread throughout the universe! You will be stopped!"
"Not by you." Dorian said as she took a menacing step towards him.
As he said the words, figures burst into the lab from all directions. Lucrecia stopped in her tracks and shot the rest of the Amethystine's crew nasty glances.
"What is this?" She asked in disgust. "You're going to try and stop me?"
"We're going to do more than try." Dorian said. "Do it!"
The rest of the Amethystine's crew rushed Lucrecia, holding small box like items. They stuck the boxes up against Greys skin, and she gasped.
"What... is this?" She managed.
"They're called energy dissectors. They absorb energy from power conduits while their being repaired." Dorian said. "They're now absorbing you."
"No!" Lucrecia screamed. She began to struggle, and small electrical bolts shot out of her body, hitting the crew members, although they gave nothing more than a slight jolt. Lucrecia was screaming - a piercing scream that echoed throughout the lab as if it were running though a microphone. Light began seeping out of Grey's body through her eyes, ears and mouth. The energy streamed into the energy dissectors, and within seconds it was over. Grey's body fell to the floor limply. Carmichael looked up at Dorian.
"What the fuck do we do with these?" He said, holding up his energy dissector.
"The closest airlock." Dorian said, grabbing the dissectors that Klein and Preston had held. "You two check out Grey."
He led the rest of the crew out of the lab and down the corridor. It took only minutes to reach the airlock. Weir cycled open the inner door and they all threw their dissectors in. Dorian looked at Weir.
"Flush it."
Weir cycled the inner door closed, and then opened the outer one. The dissectors were sucked out, and through the small airlock windows they could see the small boxes tumble trough open space.
"Well that's that." Weir said.
"I can't say I'm sorry to see the bitch leave." Carmichael said.
"Oh my god, look!" Dorian cried.
The dissectors began to glow blue, and as they watched, bolts of blue energy shot out of them and joined up. The blue light twirled in space a few times, and then shot off at an incredible speed.
"Shit!" Carmichael exclaimed.
As he watched the light shoot off, Dorian could have sworn that he heard a laugh echo throughout the ship
Dorian approached the Xenology labs armed with a hybrid rifle and a sidearm. He was alone this time – not that he considered it a good idea, but because he needed the rest of the crew elsewhere if his plan was to work. He hesitated at the doors to the lab, and then walked towards them. They opened automatically.
The inside of the lab was much as he had last seen it, although the lighting had become even more erratic, as if it would give out at any second. There were scorch marks all over the walls and ceilings now, although whether that was from Lucrecia or from he and Carmichael's weapons blasts, he didn't know.
Lucrecia was on the far wall, cocooned in a huge amount of cables and flexible conduits. Her face was pulsing blue, and the veins in her head seemed ready to burst. Her hair was a mass off electrified tangles, burnt here and there from the incredible amount of electricity that coursed through her body. Her eyes were closed.
"Lucrecia!" Dorian called, keeping the muzzle of his weapon pointed away from her, but ready all the same. Not that their weapons seemed to do much last time.
No answer was forthcoming from the possessed scientist. Dorian sighed and scowled.
"Your Majesty." He said tentatively.
Grey's eyes opened, and they shone a violently glowing blue. Dorian doubted whether there was anything of Grey left in the body.
"Captain Hanson." She replied in an electric voice that could have been that of a faulty computer. "I didn't expect you to be back."
"I need to ask you some questions." Dorian continued. "About the Hirokians, and how you came to be with them."
Lucrecia smiled a vile smile and stepped away from the wall. The cables and conduits that had encased her fell away, and the motion of departing her cocoon seemed effortless. She took a few steps toward Dorian and stopped.
"You've been studying."
Dorian nodded and lowered his weapon. He realised belatedly that if the gun was needed then he was as good as dead.
"You're not of their world." Dorian stated, pacing slightly. "You came to them after –I'm assuming – your people were destroyed. By the Vendo'Rpah."
"The beast from the stars, yes." Lucrecia answered. "We fought them, just as you did. But unlike you, we were not victorious. I was the sole survivor – so to speak. I fled, and came here."
"You ruled them." Dorian said. "You turned them against each other. Incited war. In the end, it was you who destroyed them."
Lucrecia gave Dorian a vicious smile.
"It is through war that one learns the most about themselves." She said, taking another step closer to Dorian. "They destroyed themselves; I simply... showed them conflict."
"Why?" Dorian asked. "Why destroy a peaceful pre-industrial culture? They couldn't have harmed you. They were no threat to you."
Lucrecia hissed in disgust.
"They were so peaceful and placid it was sickening. They deserved to learn of conflict – of war."
"Why?"
"Because one day, when the beast came for them, they could at least die fighting!"
"You consider yourself a warrior?" Dorian asked, after a moment's hesitation.
"I am a warrior. I fought the beast. I have fought countless wars, and only then did I suffer defeat." She glared at him. "You consider what I did to the Hirokians as horrendous? War is existence. Conflict is existence. They weren't alive!"
"If conflict is all you've lived for, then you're missing out. I pity you." Dorian said quietly.
"Insolence!" Lucrecia snapped. "You are a warrior! You and your people defeated the Beast!"
"We defeated them simply to bring ourselves peace, not for the sake of fighting." Dorian said. "Perhaps you're right – perhaps war is something that defines all of us in a way. But there are so many other things, so many better things!"
"You are weak." Lucrecia hissed, rage filling her eyes. "To think that the ones who defeated the beast exist with these beliefs. I dreamed of meeting the ones who would eventually defeat them. In my minds eye, they were glorious, gods of nothing but war." She took a threatening step towards Dorian. "You... are a bitter disappointment."
"So be it." Dorian said, turning his back on her.
"To think that such a race is now the ultimate force in the galaxy. It is not right." She spat on the ground. "You did not even kill those you defeated. The beast still exists!"
"The Vendo'Rpah will not bother anyone else. When we defeated them, we took away their means to make war." Dorian said. "We gave them a chance to redeem themselves and to see the universe in the same light as we see it."
Lucrecia looked at him in horror.
"Incomprehensible!" She said in horror. She turned away momentarily, and then spun back and glared at Dorian. "You consider me a monster?"
Dorian realised for the first time at that moment that whatever Lucrecia was, she was utterly alien - alien not only in physical existence, but in mentality perhaps even more so.
"You must be stopped!" Lucrecia cried. "To have such a philosophy spread throughout the universe! You will be stopped!"
"Not by you." Dorian said as she took a menacing step towards him.
As he said the words, figures burst into the lab from all directions. Lucrecia stopped in her tracks and shot the rest of the Amethystine's crew nasty glances.
"What is this?" She asked in disgust. "You're going to try and stop me?"
"We're going to do more than try." Dorian said. "Do it!"
The rest of the Amethystine's crew rushed Lucrecia, holding small box like items. They stuck the boxes up against Greys skin, and she gasped.
"What... is this?" She managed.
"They're called energy dissectors. They absorb energy from power conduits while their being repaired." Dorian said. "They're now absorbing you."
"No!" Lucrecia screamed. She began to struggle, and small electrical bolts shot out of her body, hitting the crew members, although they gave nothing more than a slight jolt. Lucrecia was screaming - a piercing scream that echoed throughout the lab as if it were running though a microphone. Light began seeping out of Grey's body through her eyes, ears and mouth. The energy streamed into the energy dissectors, and within seconds it was over. Grey's body fell to the floor limply. Carmichael looked up at Dorian.
"What the fuck do we do with these?" He said, holding up his energy dissector.
"The closest airlock." Dorian said, grabbing the dissectors that Klein and Preston had held. "You two check out Grey."
He led the rest of the crew out of the lab and down the corridor. It took only minutes to reach the airlock. Weir cycled open the inner door and they all threw their dissectors in. Dorian looked at Weir.
"Flush it."
Weir cycled the inner door closed, and then opened the outer one. The dissectors were sucked out, and through the small airlock windows they could see the small boxes tumble trough open space.
"Well that's that." Weir said.
"I can't say I'm sorry to see the bitch leave." Carmichael said.
"Oh my god, look!" Dorian cried.
The dissectors began to glow blue, and as they watched, bolts of blue energy shot out of them and joined up. The blue light twirled in space a few times, and then shot off at an incredible speed.
"Shit!" Carmichael exclaimed.
As he watched the light shoot off, Dorian could have sworn that he heard a laugh echo throughout the ship
posted by Travis at 10:50 PM
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