Returning Home

Posted on Tue 30th Jan, 2018 @ 9:45pm by
Edited on on Thu 1st Feb, 2018 @ 5:48pm

1,025 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: A Phaser as Deadly as a Candlestick
Location: Disney Inc. HQ

Leah was silent as she sat in her office, looking out of the window that overlooked the Tivoli Gardens. She asked to be left alone and the silence within her office was deafening, even more so by Hunt's absence. The damage from when she had been attacked had been repaired and private security had been increased throughout the building with men and women she knew for certain she could trust. Doubt played in her mind--she had once trusted Tomar with her life and he betrayed her, attacked her, and in the end tried to kill her. Had it not been for the actions of the Capellan prisoner Varr'dak and Mr. Jake Cordell, he likely would have as she thought back to the instance aboard the Orion slave ship.

Varr'dak drove a large knife into the throat on the Orion guard and ripped outward as tried to scream but only found silence as his head was nearly decapitated. Varr'dak had a smile on his face--it felt good to fight again and killing the Orion got his blood pumping.

"That's one way to kill a person," Leah remarked, shocked at the grisly mess near her feet. "Let's get to the engineering." Their plan had originally included going to the bridge, but Jake had insisted they go to engineering instead as it would be easier to disable the ship from there and would be less defensible than the bridge. They had freed the other prisoners from their cells but left them in the holding area to follow, after they had cleared a path.

Jake had expertly led them to Engineering, without incident, recalling the patrol patterns of guards and timing. As soon as the doors leading to engineering opened, they were met by a Orion engineer heading out. Varr'dak immediately grabbed the man into a headlock and twisted his neck in one precise motion, causing a crack to be heard as the man's neck was broken. Varr'dak dropped the now lifeless corpse onto the deck. If anything, Leah was quite impressed by Varr'dak's strength and combat ability--not to mention his looks. But she was still involved with Hunt. Hunt--how she missed him and needed him now. She removed a disruptor pistol from the Orion's belt. As the three moved silently into engineering, Leah heard Tomar's voice.

"How is our cloak going?" Tomar asked an engineer.

"It is still operating, but we're still leaking trace amounts of plasma from the manifolds. Until we can stop to repair it, our cloak is mostly good for visuals only," the engineer explained.

"Damn!" Tomar exclaimed just before the engineer in front of him dropped to the deck as the sound of a disruptor sounded. Tomar looked up to see Leah Jamison--his former boss--leveling a disruptor at him. Two other prisoners joined her side. He recognized them immediately as his anger grew.

"It's over, Tomar. Give up," Leah ordered.

"Oh, but the fun is just beginning! Kill them!" Tomar ordered as the rest of the engineers ran towards the trio and fired.

Leah fired off a shot as she, Varr'dakk, and Jake ducked behind different consoles.

Suddenly there was a roar of yells as the other prisoners poured into engineering, overwhelming the engineers. This gave Leah the break she needed as she rose from cover only to see Tomar already leveling a disruptor at her. She felt helpless even as her arm raised to fire her weapon, knowing she wouldn't be fast enough. Her body braced for the impact of the disruptor but was instead knocked to the deck as the body of Jake Cordell fell onto her. "Mister Cordell!" she screamed, feeling his blood soaking her blouse.

Not missing a beat, Varr'dak slammed into Tomar in a vicious tackle that sent both men sprawling. Varr'dak rolled onto his feet as Tomar did, delivering a blow that Leah was sure she could feel, and sent Tomar staggering backwards.

As Tomar and Varr'dak continued to struggle, Leah turned her attention to Jake, who was in her lap, dying. "Mister Cordell...Jake. Why?"

The elderly man grinned. "You showed faith in me when others did not...that...is worthy of my life. Live...yoursss...." his voice trailed off as life drained from his eyes. Leah's eyes filled with tears, and she continued to hold Jake in her lap. "May you find peace," she whispered as tears flowed down her cheeks as she closed his eyes.

Tomar tackled Varr'dak who fell back, grabbing Tomar with him, rolling onto his back and tossing Tomar off with a kick. Leah rose with her disruptor in hand. The last thing Tomar saw was Leah aiming the disruptor pistol at him before she fired, causing the disruptor beam to rip through his skull and out the other end. "Rot in hell, you son of a bitch," she said, her eyes red from anger and hurt.

Cheers from the prisoners soon sounded with cheers as they had taken engineering. "Do we have anyone with any engineering skills?" Leah asked the prisoners. Four people raised their hands. "Good. See if you can seal off engineering and flood the rest of the ship with nyocene gas," she said, knowing the gas would instantly kill anyone who breathed it in. "That will take care the rest of the crew. Then we'll head to the bridge and set a course for Starbase Vanguard once we space the bodies of the crew. It's the least they deserved," Leah ordered to the cheers of the prisoners.


Leah was broken from her thoughts by the door chime. Varr'dak entered and stopped before her desk. "You wanted to see me, Leah?"

Leah grinned at the man and stood. "Yes. You are a capable fighter and one I know that I can trust," she stated, having verified Varr'dak's history through multiple sources and the Capellans' code to always tell the truth. "I want to appoint you as the Head of Disney Security and my personal bodyguard, if you will accept."

Varr'dak seemed surprised but grinned after a moment. "I would be honored."

Leah grinned in return. "Good. Welcome to Disney Inc., Varr'dak," she greeted, shaking the man's hand.

 

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