The Duality - Part III

[Victria 0]

(( Again, special thanks to Col. Harper for her excellent play as the Al-Ucard Siyar. ))

 

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Her pulse was all but nonexistent. Victria could feel the poison spreading through her system, slowly inching toward her vital organs. Her self-induced coma had only delayed the inevitable. Every moment she struggled toward consciousness was another moment of life that slipped away. Even so, she had to risk death to save herself from death. In a state of inner awareness, she began to filter the poison from her system, using her body's own antibodies to cluster around the toxin and force it back on the path from whence it came. It was an arduous process, particularly when one was only in a half state of awareness.

 

Scorpiad venom in general, Androct venom in particular, was a horribly painful method of death. It spread through the body like any other disease, but could not be stopped by normal methods. It first immobilized by effectively shutting down the nervous system, but were also said to voraciously attack all other internal organs as well, eating the victim from the inside out and dissolving all fleshy materials in its path. Victria had only heard tales of these effects, but as the stories involved the Scorpiad, she doubted they were exaggerated.

 

She had no intention of dying at the hands of the Scorpiad or any of their brainwashed minions. It had taken the destruction of an entire Al-Ucardian fleet and her own near death to make her realize just how little she or her people mattered to the ruthless conquerors. The Scorpiad were once the greatest myth of her people, worshipped as gods and followed with undying devotion. Some fanatics still remained, but Victria was officially disenchanted with the entire race. The hole in her shoulder only cemented her new opinion.

 

After what seemed several lifetimes, tainted blood began to trickle from her wound. To repel the infected, she had to reject some of her own life-sustaining fluid, but it could not be helped. Pushing the majority of the venom out of her body was almost more than she could handle. Some would linger still, but not enough to truly matter. At last, the flesh of her shoulder began to heal, fusing together as she allowed her body's natural defenses to react normally. Exhausted from the effort, Victria blacked out once more, though this time not of her own volition.

 

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"I see you've regenerated rather quickly. We'll put that to the test soon."

 

Siyar's voice roused Victria from her blissful state of unawareness, dragging her back to reality and the pain of her healing body. Her ribs ached as she took an experimental breath, muscles and flesh surrounding newly knitted bones still tender from the recent trauma. Without opening her eyes, she flexed her aching muscles to test the bonds that held her. She'd been secured in some sort of chair, held by strong metal bands at her stomach, wrists, and ankles. She thought they might buckle with enough pressure, but now was not the time to test her theory.

 

"You do know this is pointless. The information you want is not within my grasp. I have no knowledge of Federation plans or strategies." Eyelids parted slightly, careful to acclimate to the room's brilliant illumination.

 

"For your sake," Siyar replied, "I hope you are lying. Otherwise, you've just made yourself useless to me and I can dispose of you on a whim." She fingered the blade that rested at her hip, looking thoughtful.

 

"You could, but I doubt your Scorpiad masters would take your word for it."

 

"No, they will not be satisfied unless you suffer." Siyar grinned, baring her fangs as she slowly circled Victria's chair. "Fortunately, I do not intend to let you die without exacting some retribution for your treachery."

 

"The only treachery that exists is being cultivated by the Scorpiad! They use us and our people without thought for our welfare," Victria said through clenched teeth. "We are nothing but expendable tools to them! We have been nothing but tools since the beginning when we scoured the system in search of Changelings to eradicate. At least in those times we were given rank and honor according to our duties. Now, we are simply an acceptable loss of their tactical resistance."

 

Hotly, the other woman argued, "The Scorpiad created us! They made us what we are. We are subject to their laws and their orders because without them, we are nothing!" Siyar closed in, hissing slightly as her fervent belief translated to heated words.

 

Victria bared her fangs in response, glaring. "We existed before they subdued our world and perverted our genetic makeup in order to fulfill their obsession for ultimate dominance. We do not need them and they have no right to be worshipped."

 

"You will suffer even more for your lies," Siyar snapped.

 

Victria watched her captor as she reached behind the chair, pulling forth an attached swing-arm that supported a small device. Making several careful adjustments, Siyar locked the cylindrical device into place, aiming it at the newly grown skin on Victria's shoulder. Once everything was settled to her satisfaction, her gaze sought Victria's once more.

 

"Normally, I would simply drain you and study whatever memories I could discern, but the toxin in your blood makes that impossible at this time," she explained, shaking her head with an expression of mock regret. "So while I wait for your body to filter the remaining traces, we shall explore some... alternate avenues of information gathering." Siyar patted the device affectionately.

 

"All of which will fail," Victria said without hesitation, knowing she would never bend, buckle, or cave.

 

The realization shocked her. Why would she keep Federation secrets? She was not permanently affixed to them. What allegiance did she owe them? In truth, she did not owe them anything; she owed Ah-Windu. But even that excuse was only a surface layer that hid the complex core within. Her primary motivation was now the complete destruction of the

Scorpiad and the end of their dynasty. The Federation was the only group that had even the slightest chance of succeeding in that quest.

 

"Probably," Siyar replied smoothly, "but I doubt I will grow tired of the attempts."

 

The device was activated with a short keyed sequence. It began to hum softly, the tone deep and flat. Slowly, the pitch began to climb, each progressive note higher than the last until it reached a level that would be torture to the sensitive ears of an Al-Ucard. Fortunately for Victria, the piercing noise lasted only a few moments. It cut off abruptly and a beam of concentrated light exploded from the cylinder's lens and focused on Victria's shoulder.

 

At first, the light had no effect, but after a few moments Victria experienced the painful beginnings. Newly formed skin itched with maddening ferocity and then began to burn in earnest. The creamy expanse of her shoulder erupted in hundreds of blisters, as though the skin itself was being boiled. Her fingernails screeched across the slick metal of her chair as they clambered for something to dig into. As the flesh began to dissolve, peeling away to reveal the musculature underneath, she arched her body against her bonds, straining as she willed them to break. Her head slammed against the back of her chair, fangs piercing her lower lip as she choked down the screams.

 

"Concentrated ultraviolet," Siyar commented as she deactivated the beam. "Ten times more powerful than that given off by any known star and far more than our light-sensitive bodies can withstand." Almost tenderly, she brushed a stray lock of hair away from Victria's ear, leaning close to whisper, "Did you enjoy it?"

 

Panting, Victria opened her eyes to glare, her tongue wiping away spilled blood from her lower lip. In a matter of moments, the flesh of her shoulder had healed over again, hiding her previous wounds and regenerating in spite of the more recent damage. Teeth clenched, she strained against the bands securing her wrists, wanting nothing more in that exact moment than to see Siyar's head removed from her body.

 

Siyar stepped back, laughing softly. "Nicely done, traitoress," she praised. "You've already recovered from your first dose. Let's see how you fare with the second, shall we?" Now grinning maliciously, Siyar's hand slid toward the activation switch. "This could provide hours of entertainment. Do you think you can survive that long?"

 

"Even longer," Victria spat back defiantly, but as the ultraviolet beam shot forth again and buried itself in her shoulder, she quickly began to have her doubts.

Edited April 30, 2007 by Victria