The Duality - Part VI / The Conclusion

[Victria 0]

The journey to the shuttle bay had been painfully uneventful in Victria's mind. She had assuaged the worst of her Hunger with the unfortunate soldier, but would not deny herself another bite should the opportunity occur. The most amusing part of their crawl through the complex maintenance tubes had been R'eln's palatable unease. She imagined that he was nervously anticipating an attack from her. It would be a lie to say that she had not thought about it, but she quickly decided that she might have further use for him in the escape.

 

When they arrived at the vent that led to the shuttle complex, he motioned for her to move up to get a look. Hardly breathing, she squeezed forward, peering through the grate at the area. Beside her she could feel R'eln's heartbeat increase, though she couldn't tell if it was caused by her presence or the anticipation of escape. She scanned the room, using her excellent hearing to fill what she couldn't see.

 

"I count at least fifteen guards," he whispered, glancing sideways at her.

 

"There are at least another six out of visual range," she replied calmly, ignoring the anxiety in his voice.

 

"How are you going to get past them? Diversion?"

 

"A thought. Could you flood the room with something toxic?"

 

"I would have to bring their core back online, but that would give them access as well. They could lock down everything."

 

"Not an option, then." Her gaze drifted to the rows of ships waiting to be launched. The fighter in which she had arrived was lost among them, but she did not need to retrieve it. Any ship would do, so long as it functioned properly. "Do you think you could lock out the doors, at least? Fuse them shut?"

 

"With a plasma weapon," he breathed. "But what about the soldiers?"

 

"I will take care of them. With them focused on me, you will need to secure the door without them seeing you. I will join you once you have a fighter ready to launch. Stay here, out of sight, until you see a break. Then use the storage containers for cover."

 

"How are you going to handle over twenty trained soldiers by yourself?" He whispered harshly, watching as she began to remove the vent cover.

 

"By killing them all," she replied, turning to him with sadistic, fang-filled smile. He recoiled, but before he could stammer out an objection, she continued. "Keep more from entering, then get yourself to a ship. I do not want to have to worry about you for any longer than necessary."

 

He nodded tentatively and she turned back to the vent cover, removing it with a slight tug at a moment when no soldiers were looking. She slipped out and slinked quietly away, wanting to put some distance between herself and R'eln's escape route. Using stacked cargo and supplies to stay out of sight for as long as possible, Victria carefully chose her first target: a soldier that stood a little too far away from the rest of his unit.

 

Muscles bunched in anticipation as she prepared to break cover. Eyes darting to check the area one last time, she exhaled slowly and then shot into motion. With blurring speed, she attacked the soldier from behind, drawing his own knife from its sheath and slitting his throat. Four others fell to the blade before the rest fully realized what was happening. A deafening outcry of rage hit her as the remaining soldiers charged. Weapons fire soon began to streak past her, though each missed narrowly as she refused to remain still. As the soldiers neared, the possibility of friendly fire gave most of them pause. They attacked, instead, with deadly bladed weapons.

 

Her combat senses extended to the fullest, Victria lost herself to her Hunting instincts. Soldier three provided a second blade for her to use which proved deadly to the four that closely followed him. Soldier eight chanced point-blank fire at her chest, but could not match her speed. He soon found himself missing his arm and, a moment later, his head. Soldier nine fell twitching, slain by the shot meant for her. But Victria did not pause to inspect her victims. As she fought, she transitioned fluidly from one to the next, selecting her next target even before her current had died. Twelve through fifteen died within moments of one another, killed by blade and plasma as she rebounded off one of the ships and attacked them in mid-flight. Seventeen fell with a sword through his chest, skewered by eighteen whom Victria beheaded shortly after. Smarter than his comrades, nineteen took cover and fired from behind the perceived safety of a fighter ship. She rolled to dodge a volley of plasma blasts, grabbed a fallen soldier's dagger in passing, and flung it at the offender. He fell back with the blade buried in his forehead.

 

Number twenty attacked her from behind, but his sword met only air. The surprised soldier choked and fell as her blade severed his windpipe. At number twenty-one, Victria could no longer contain herself. The floor was slick with blood and the metallic scent assaulted her senses. She took the soldier alive, using his body as a shield as she sank her fangs into his neck to drink and revitalize herself. Even while feeding, however, her gaze continued to dart about the room, calculating her next attack.

 

Tossing the limp form away after a few moments, Victria noted that more soldiers were present than she had originally counted. A quick glance showed the doors leading from the compound were still unsecured. Soldiers continued to stream inside, pounding across the bay to take up the fight against her. Expecting R'eln to have done his job by now, she quickly glanced to the vent, spotting the cover thrown haphazardly aside. Another survey of the room -- using her meal's rifle to blast three more soldiers -- showed no sign of the Shalia. Victria was a superb combatant, but she could not fight forever. Already, the levels of concentration required were beginning to wear her down and the influx of soldiers would soon be overwhelming.

 

A flicker of movement to her left alerted her to incoming attackers as they attempted an ambush from the neat rows of spacecraft. Beyond them, however, she saw something of far greater importance: R'eln climbing undetected into one of the fighters. Above the sounds of battle, she heard the craft powering up. In her distraction, a blast of plasma fire struck her in the shoulder and spun her around. She hissed in pain as she righted and flung herself at the unlucky male, disemboweling him in one clean swipe. Her fingers curled about one of the standard issue incendiary devices that all of the soldiers wore on their bandoliers and yanked it free.

 

Running for those that planned an ambush, she activated the device and tossed it at the first soldier she met. He caught it out of reflex and quickly threw it away in horror as he realized what it was. Using the next attacker as a vault, she launched herself at one of the fighters and scrambled to the top. A few rows away, she saw the doors of R'eln's fighter closing. Moving as quickly as possible, she leapt from one ship to the next to put distance between her and her enemies. Behind her, she heard the blast of the grenade she'd thrown and the resulting explosion as it enveloped a nearby ship. Like a true catalyst, the detonation caused a chain reaction, each ship setting the next on fire. With no emergency suppression system active to extinguish the flames, the shuttle bay was soon a violent mass of exploding craft.

 

Victria jumped to the ground where the remaining ships would temporarily buffer the concussive waves. She reached R'eln's chosen fighter just before it rose to depart and grabbed the door handle. Clinging to the entry hatch as the fighter left the bay floor behind, she physically pried the heavy door open, ignoring the blaring alarms as she tumbled inside. The panel slammed shut behind her, silencing the alarms as decompression was no longer a threat. She felt the engines kick in and sensed the decrease in gravity -- though the internal artificial gravity seemed to be functioning normally -- as the fighter left the compound and headed into space. Even as they left the complex, the explosions were still audible.

 

The door to the pilot's compartment slid aside as she neared. R'eln stood to block her way, aiming a small phaser pistol at her chest. She paused in the center of the corridor, ignoring the puddle of blood that was slowly beginning to form at her feet.

 

"You forgot to lock out the rest of the compound," she said dryly.

 

"I did not forget," he replied, frowning. "There were too many soldiers and I did not have the opportunity."

 

"You were leaving without me."

 

"Yes. I decided one less Al-Ucard to hunt us would probably be a good thing."

 

"Ruthless. I did not think you had it in you, Shalia."

 

"It was not a hard decision. You provided the perfect diversion. I do not need you to fly this ship, so you will not be returning to Federation controlled space with me."

 

"You are going to kill me," one eyebrow lifted as she took a step closer. "You are going to do it yourself? Right now?"

 

"You are a danger to me and my kind, no matter with whom you ally yourself."

 

"Usually, the longer you talk to your intended victim, the harder it is to kill them when the time comes," she pointed out.

 

"You are right," he said, promptly firing.

 

As before, however, Victria had not waited for the blast to reach her. Anticipating his attack, she flung herself against one wall, grabbed his arm, and slammed the weapon out of his hand. Incredulous at his failure, he stared at her in wide-eyed horror as she held him by the throat and pinned him to the wall.

 

"I am very impressed with you R'eln. You have shown me that you are more than what your race was initially meant to be. I could never believe that a mere Shalia could produce such ruthless, Al-Ucardian tendencies."

 

"I am no parasitic Al-Ucard!" he yelled vehemently, trying to push her away.

 

"No, you are not," she replied without breaking her hold. "You are not worthy to be an Al-Ucard, but I do not believe you can call yourself a Shalia any longer. What will the rest of your people think of such a betrayal?"

 

"They would praise me for ridding the Universe of one your kind," he snarled.

 

"As the Scorpiad would praise me for destroying one of yours?" She leaned close until their faces were only inches apart. "Do you see how you have become what you most loathe? You spout ideals at me, but turn your back on them when it suits you. What happened to your sense of honor?"

 

R'eln opened his mouth to argue, but closed it without saying anything. He stared at her, hanging his head in shame after a moment. "Just kill me and finish it now," he pleaded, finding the truth far more damaging than any amount of physical damage Victria could have bestowed.

 

"Oh, I do not intend to kill you, little Shalia," Victria assured him. "You have shown me that one must set aside personal prejudices and judge another on actions alone. As you learned to be ruthless, I can find it in me to be merciful and spare your life."

 

"However," she curbed any outpouring of gratitude with an evil smile, baring her fangs. "I am still a 'parasitic Al-Ucard' and cannot always help my vengeful ways. It is going to take several hours to reach the Excalibur, especially if we intend to avoid the Scorpiad's FTL Focal Systems. And I find that combat always makes me extremely thirsty..."

 

 

~ End

[Dox Maturin 0]

Didn't she drink a whole person just a minute ago? ^_^ She does get thirsty! I still think R'eln is going to make it.

[Col. C.E. Harper 0]

Didn't she drink a whole person just a minute ago? ^_^ She does get thirsty! I still think R'eln is going to make it.

 

Well, you know how salty blood is.

 

Great logs, Victria!

[Kansas_Jones 0]

Didn't she drink a whole person just a minute ago? ^_^ She does get thirsty! I still think R'eln is going to make it.

 

 

Well, you know how salty blood is.

 

Great logs, Victria!

 

Woo! Kick butt and take some names! Cool log Victria. I do believe Mr. Reln is in for an uncomfortable shuttle ride.

[Images 0]

Heh. Kickass log Vic.

 

Now here's a question, who'd whoop who? Victria or River in Serenity?