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janestarzMarch 20, 2024 / 080-1104
The Calendula should have a crew of 20 people, possibly 19 now that they had found a corpse floating outside the station, but they hadn't encountered any people since coming on board. Hasta shouldered his flechette assault rifle and took point with Myles.
At the rear of the lab was a small hallway, with a windowless door to the left, and another iris door with green indicators at the end.
"Do we want to systematically go through and check every room so we don't get ambushed?" Hasta rumbled. He seemed happy to tackle such a tedious task, flechette rifle at the ready, just hoping someone would make his day.
"We also want to check for survivors." Moira suggested.
"You're talking about survivors, and we don't even know what happened here." Qupar replied. "They could all be having lunch at the cafeteria." He sighed wistfully, remembering the grey protein breakfast sludge from that morning. "We were promised lunch..."
Myles cracked a wry smile. "Considering what we've found so far, that is most likely going to be *un*likely."
Hasta gestured a military hand signal and turned to Myles. "We should probably clear this place room by room."
At a nod from Hasta, Myles touched the panel next to the door on his left and it slid into the wall with a hiss. The room was ransacked. Mattresses from the bunk beds were thrown on the floor, and blankets, papers and sheets scattered around. The ceiling lights were smashed as well. Hasta stepped inside and kicked in the small bathroom door that was in the room to check it, and barked "Clear!" when he found no-one inside.
They continued through the iris door and when Myles opened the next door, Hasta pointed his rifle in. Inside they found a number of bodies hanging from hooks in the ceiling. Many were missing limbs, and their bodies showed lacerations and signs of having been chewed on as well.
At a wave from Hasta, Qupar moved into the room to check the bodies. They were definitely human, and they were definitely very dead. He guessed that the marks on the bodies were made by human teeth. He bent over the other wounds. It looked like the limbs that were removed were either torn off or hacked off. There was no precision to it, no surgical intent - it seemed to have been done by brute force alone.
He glanced at the floor. There was some blood on the plating, but nowhere near enough to indicate the bodies had been butchered in the room. Near the door were some drag marks. Some of the bodies had been moved to this place to be held in this kind of meat locker.
"They may have been hung here, but they might not have been killed here." he reported.
Hasta counted the bodies. "There's thirteen bodies here."
"That's half the crew. If you include the one outside. " Myles replied. "So there's several still unaccounted for."
"They could all be having dinner somewhere." Hasta said sarcastically. It seemed an unlikely prospect.
"What kind of dinner could it be, is the real question." Myles asked.
Qupar voiced his suspicion, dread in his voice. "I think it's fresh meat."
They suddenly noticed Moira had left the group. She had taken one look inside the room and stumbled to a seat a little further down the hallway. She was sitting on a chair, looking pale. It was a little mess area, but the tables and chairs had been pushed aside and used in some kind of barricade. Two small light fixtures gave off enough light to see by, but the rest were smashed just like the others. Bloodied and torn jumpsuits had been discarded on the floor and she very pointedly avoided looking at them.
Meanwhile, Dendr was eyeing the hallway surveillance cameras. "Getting to the security footage is probably our new priority here. And then maybe get the fuck out of here."
"Cameras need light to record." Qupar remarked. "Maybe that's the reason all the light fixtures were smashed. No evidence." He wiped a hand over his clean-shaven chin. "If there's anything scientists like, it's keeping records of what they do. And if something went wrong and they didn't want any evidence, they would surely know what to disable and what not to record. I'm thinking that this was not just an accident, this might be a reason why there's no light."
Hasta fiddled with his boarding vacc suit terminal. "If we can find a port I can plug into, I might be able to hack into the computer systems."
So far they hadn't seen any computer terminals or access ports in the crew quarter or lab they had been to. Their only option was to keep moving.
It was obvious the room with the barricade where Moira had sat down had been a place where the crew had tried a last stand, but somehow they had still ended up on hooks in the ceiling. It was a depressing thought.
When the six of them continued down the corridor, the blood spatter on the floor became inconsistent. A few drops here and there, but nothing as serious as in that larger room.
They continued down the corridor, Hasta again checking each room by poking the nozzle of his flechette rifle in. A few doors down the hall, they were greeted by bright lights and they blinked several times as their eyes struggled to compensate. There was a table with a tablecloth in the centre of the room, and a place setting for a single person's dinner at the head of the table. There was no food in view. "It wasn't undisturbed because they couldn't get in here;" Qupar mentioned, motioning to the unlocked door; "It's undisturbed because there was nothing here they would want."
He wasn't exactly sure what that meant. Was whoever butchered the crew looking for human meat? Or had it been something else they wanted? They hadn't explored enough of the ship to answer that question.
The next room was dark again, some chairs outlined in the darkness. There was a dark viewscreen on the back wall, a couple of wall-mounted shelves with bound reports and books. Along the tables were some duty stations. Hasta touched a light switch next to the door, not exactly expecting anything but as the lights turned on in a blink Moira startled. Hasta moved to the computer terminals and started tapping at the console. The screen showed a start-up screen with the Calendula and Lysari Laboratories logo, and he briefly skimmed over a report with progress on some experiment or other. From the report he could see the scientists were harvesting some gas from the gas giant and distilling it to get a hold of some of the chemicals, but he wasn't sure what they were trying to achieve.
"Any chance you can pull up a crew manifest or a ship's log?" Moira said, looking over Hasta's shoulder. She seemed to have recovered a little bit.
Hasta shook his head. There were no comm reports, crew manifest, or any other important files on that terminal. He did find a list of names, which could be a list of the crew members, but there were no pictures with them.
"Maybe identifying the people in that meat locker can wait until we've checked the rest of the ship." Qupar said. "They're not going to get any more dead."
"Knowing who is dead, and who is unaccounted for isn't really helpful right this moment." Moira nodded. She was still looking pale and her knuckles were white from gripping the stun rod with a vice-like grip.
When they entered the next room, still darkened with smashed light fixtures, it looked like a reception area. There was a lift to the central spoke of the ship where visitors would dock their skiffs, and there was a large plaque on the wall reading 'the Calendula' in corporate letterhead. Comfortable chairs for the visitors were around, and they weren't upended or moved into a pile or barricade. The plaque read that the owner was a company called Scientific Charters. There was also a map with the ship's layout, which they studied. The main laboratory area was still a little way off. The cargo bay and another air raft bay, the main drive pods, and the bridge were in Quadrant 1 and 2 on the other side of the ship. Engineering and the auxiliary bridge were closer.
"If we backtrack to the auxiliary bridge we can see the camera footage and get an idea of what happened on board." Dendr mused, poking the auxiliary bridge on the map. "and then from there we can go to the big lab. If we go through Quadrant 3 there's just a whole bunch of unknown."
"Quadrant 3 has a whole lot of pinch points." Hasta rumbled. He didn't relish the thought of fighting in close quarters without a true squad at his back, but he fondled his gun. He could handle whatever would come at them.
"If we go to the auxiliary bridge...it won't be the most fun route." Dendr smiled knowingly at the big man.
"I'm not here for the fun, Hasta." Moira scowled at Dendr's suggestion. Everyone knew Hasta would be making the decision on which route to take, he would be in front, leading them. She was just hoping Hasta would listen to reason. "So we backtrack to the auxiliary bridge?"
"I'll just leave this here." Dendr said. He took out an audio-visual bug from a pocket and attached it to a wall panel near the corner of the foyer. "It will record and warn me if anyone comes up from this side."
They went back to the auxiliary lab and saw movement in one corner. Someone was there, with their back turned towards them. It looked like a human female. She looked dishevelled, her blond hair in lots of tiny braids swinging from side to side as she moved.
"Stop!" Myles shouted in a commanding voice. He didn't want her to run, or be startled and become aggressive.
The woman startled and one of her feet landed on some equipment that was on the floor. She stumbled and regained her footing, looking furtively around, trying to see where the voice had come from.
"We don't mean you any harm, we've only come to see what happened to the ship. You've missed several windows of communication. It looks like you're one of the survivors, and you've been through quite a lot." Myles continued. He walked forward slowly, extending a hand to reassure her. "Now...we just need some information about what's happened."
The woman turned around and Myles recognised her from the picture Halglee had shown them. Her hair was dishevelled and there was a bruise on her face, but they recognised the lead scientist, Hollo Ezrahm.
"Who sent you? Who are you? What are you doing here?" she blurted out. They could see one of her teeth was chipped as she spoke quickly. "Please don't hurt me. I haven't done anything wrong."
"We don't intend to hurt you Hollo Ezrahm." Myles replied. His kind words were followed by a military matter-of-factness as he spoke her full name. "We were sent by Dalglee Hahsh. They were concerned you missed multiple windows of communication. They have no idea what's going on and they sent us here to find out." He paused for a moment. "We've found a couple of bodies and obviously..."
"What bodies?" Hollo interrupted, her voice sounding high and panicked. "It's nothing to do with me. What bodies did you find?" She fidgeted with her jumpsuit nervously.
Qupar raised his weapon somewhat, and Hollo obviously noticed. "What are you doing? Why are you raising your weapons?" Her eyes darted nervously from Myles and his weapon to the weapons the rest of the group were holding a little further off.
"Everyone just calm down for a minute, okay?" Myles said placatingly. "We're trying to work out who or what is killing people on this ship. Do you have any idea what that could be?"
"It's nothing to do with me. I don't know what is going on." Hollo replied. "It's...it's...I don't know what's going on. I've been attacked."
"Who attacked you?" Moira asked.
"It's been horrible, it's just...it....it..." Hollo sobbed; "...it's been absolute hell being here....one day we're doing our work...and...and...the next day is...oh my God it's like...an explosion and all hell has let loose...people started fighting each other and attacking each other...it's too much...I don't want to think about it...it's just horrible."
"Okay." Myles thought for a moment. "What were you researching? What was the job of this station?"
"I don't know if I'm allowed to tell you." Hollo said, distracted from her memories for a moment. "Lysari...I signed an NDA, I can't talk about that."
"We haven't encountered what is attacking people." Myles said. "We don't know. But you are safer now, with us, than you are alone. We should check you over, a quick med-check because it's been quite an ordeal, you might need food and water and other things as well."
He pulled up a lab stool for her to sit, making sure his gun arm was pointed away from her so she couldn't reach it. Hollo hesitantly moved towards the seat. "You're not going to hurt me, are you?"
"Unless I have to defend myself for whatever reason, no." Myles tried to pacify her, but Hollo's eyes widened.
"Why would you want to defend yourself? Why why why would you mention that?"
Myles replied in a calming voice. "It's quite obvious that something on this ship is killing your crew."
"It wasn't me. It wasn't..." Hollo said quickly. She finally sank down on the stool, and Myles waved Qupar over.
Qupar set the med kit down on a crate next to Hollo and nodded kindly. "Ma'am. Would you allow me to see what state you're in and assess your injuries?"
"Yeah...but I feel fine but uh...I suppose." Hollo replied irritably. There were some welts on her arms, and it looked like she had been scratching them. There was some blood, but they were superficial injuries and cuts.
Qupar put on a set of latex gloves and looked her over. She was grubby and there was blood under the fingernails of her left hand, but he couldn't see if it was her own blood under there. There were blood splatters on her clothes as well. Several of her teeth were chipped, he could now see. He fiddled with the med kit and took Hollo's temperature, which was slightly elevated. Her blood pressure was understandably high, the stress of being in such a situation would affect any person's blood pressure.
He carefully set his palm on her forehead to check her pupils with a light and as he looked at them, they suddenly dilated swiftly. Out of nowhere Hollo had a laser scalpel in her hand, and she slashed at Qupar. He was startled, but quick enough to push Hollo away from him before the scalpel could cut him. The stool she sat on toppled, and Qupar quickly got to his feet. He knew that Hasta would be more than happy to shoot anything that attacked any one of them, and he didn't want to get caught in the crossfire. Hollo also managed to get to her feet, and stayed close enough to him for another attack. His shove had had little effect, and he clearly underestimated how strong she was.
"Blade!" Qupar shouted, taking his gun out and pulling the trigger twice in a reflex. The bullets hit her in the chest and stomach, the impact only made her stagger for a moment, and she was still standing. He gaped. Two slugs at point-blank range on a scientist shouldn't mean the person was still standing. He'd seen thugs go down for less.
Myles was already in motion, covering the distance between them in a flash. He whipped Hollo across the head with the butt of his pistol and she reeled from the blow. As dazed and bloodied as she was, she was still going for Qupar. She slashed with the scalpel again, but she missed him completely as she stumbled a bit.
Qupar reacted instantly. He grabbed her right arm and twisted so she couldn't try anything with the scalpel, and kicked her legs out from under her. She went down hard, and he held onto her arm, rolling her onto her stomach. Hollo screamed at the top of her lungs in frustration and tried to kick at Qupar. He grabbed the restraints from where he'd clipped them onto the vacc suit belt, and locked them around her wrists.
"We want you alive." Qupar growled. "Don't make me hurt you."
"This is where we get to use some of that patented police brutality." Dendr remarked with a wry smile.
"I'm sure you're recording all of this." Qupar replied unfazed.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Read the next entry in this campaign.
Read the first entry in this campaign.
The Calendula should have a crew of 20 people, possibly 19 now that they had found a corpse floating outside the station, but they hadn't encountered any people since coming on board. Hasta shouldered his flechette assault rifle and took point with Myles.
At the rear of the lab was a small hallway, with a windowless door to the left, and another iris door with green indicators at the end.
"Do we want to systematically go through and check every room so we don't get ambushed?" Hasta rumbled. He seemed happy to tackle such a tedious task, flechette rifle at the ready, just hoping someone would make his day.
"We also want to check for survivors." Moira suggested.
"You're talking about survivors, and we don't even know what happened here." Qupar replied. "They could all be having lunch at the cafeteria." He sighed wistfully, remembering the grey protein breakfast sludge from that morning. "We were promised lunch..."
Myles cracked a wry smile. "Considering what we've found so far, that is most likely going to be *un*likely."
Hasta gestured a military hand signal and turned to Myles. "We should probably clear this place room by room."
At a nod from Hasta, Myles touched the panel next to the door on his left and it slid into the wall with a hiss. The room was ransacked. Mattresses from the bunk beds were thrown on the floor, and blankets, papers and sheets scattered around. The ceiling lights were smashed as well. Hasta stepped inside and kicked in the small bathroom door that was in the room to check it, and barked "Clear!" when he found no-one inside.
They continued through the iris door and when Myles opened the next door, Hasta pointed his rifle in. Inside they found a number of bodies hanging from hooks in the ceiling. Many were missing limbs, and their bodies showed lacerations and signs of having been chewed on as well.
At a wave from Hasta, Qupar moved into the room to check the bodies. They were definitely human, and they were definitely very dead. He guessed that the marks on the bodies were made by human teeth. He bent over the other wounds. It looked like the limbs that were removed were either torn off or hacked off. There was no precision to it, no surgical intent - it seemed to have been done by brute force alone.
He glanced at the floor. There was some blood on the plating, but nowhere near enough to indicate the bodies had been butchered in the room. Near the door were some drag marks. Some of the bodies had been moved to this place to be held in this kind of meat locker.
"They may have been hung here, but they might not have been killed here." he reported.
Hasta counted the bodies. "There's thirteen bodies here."
"That's half the crew. If you include the one outside. " Myles replied. "So there's several still unaccounted for."
"They could all be having dinner somewhere." Hasta said sarcastically. It seemed an unlikely prospect.
"What kind of dinner could it be, is the real question." Myles asked.
Qupar voiced his suspicion, dread in his voice. "I think it's fresh meat."
They suddenly noticed Moira had left the group. She had taken one look inside the room and stumbled to a seat a little further down the hallway. She was sitting on a chair, looking pale. It was a little mess area, but the tables and chairs had been pushed aside and used in some kind of barricade. Two small light fixtures gave off enough light to see by, but the rest were smashed just like the others. Bloodied and torn jumpsuits had been discarded on the floor and she very pointedly avoided looking at them.
Meanwhile, Dendr was eyeing the hallway surveillance cameras. "Getting to the security footage is probably our new priority here. And then maybe get the fuck out of here."
"Cameras need light to record." Qupar remarked. "Maybe that's the reason all the light fixtures were smashed. No evidence." He wiped a hand over his clean-shaven chin. "If there's anything scientists like, it's keeping records of what they do. And if something went wrong and they didn't want any evidence, they would surely know what to disable and what not to record. I'm thinking that this was not just an accident, this might be a reason why there's no light."
Hasta fiddled with his boarding vacc suit terminal. "If we can find a port I can plug into, I might be able to hack into the computer systems."
So far they hadn't seen any computer terminals or access ports in the crew quarter or lab they had been to. Their only option was to keep moving.
It was obvious the room with the barricade where Moira had sat down had been a place where the crew had tried a last stand, but somehow they had still ended up on hooks in the ceiling. It was a depressing thought.
When the six of them continued down the corridor, the blood spatter on the floor became inconsistent. A few drops here and there, but nothing as serious as in that larger room.
They continued down the corridor, Hasta again checking each room by poking the nozzle of his flechette rifle in. A few doors down the hall, they were greeted by bright lights and they blinked several times as their eyes struggled to compensate. There was a table with a tablecloth in the centre of the room, and a place setting for a single person's dinner at the head of the table. There was no food in view. "It wasn't undisturbed because they couldn't get in here;" Qupar mentioned, motioning to the unlocked door; "It's undisturbed because there was nothing here they would want."
He wasn't exactly sure what that meant. Was whoever butchered the crew looking for human meat? Or had it been something else they wanted? They hadn't explored enough of the ship to answer that question.
The next room was dark again, some chairs outlined in the darkness. There was a dark viewscreen on the back wall, a couple of wall-mounted shelves with bound reports and books. Along the tables were some duty stations. Hasta touched a light switch next to the door, not exactly expecting anything but as the lights turned on in a blink Moira startled. Hasta moved to the computer terminals and started tapping at the console. The screen showed a start-up screen with the Calendula and Lysari Laboratories logo, and he briefly skimmed over a report with progress on some experiment or other. From the report he could see the scientists were harvesting some gas from the gas giant and distilling it to get a hold of some of the chemicals, but he wasn't sure what they were trying to achieve.
"Any chance you can pull up a crew manifest or a ship's log?" Moira said, looking over Hasta's shoulder. She seemed to have recovered a little bit.
Hasta shook his head. There were no comm reports, crew manifest, or any other important files on that terminal. He did find a list of names, which could be a list of the crew members, but there were no pictures with them.
"Maybe identifying the people in that meat locker can wait until we've checked the rest of the ship." Qupar said. "They're not going to get any more dead."
"Knowing who is dead, and who is unaccounted for isn't really helpful right this moment." Moira nodded. She was still looking pale and her knuckles were white from gripping the stun rod with a vice-like grip.
When they entered the next room, still darkened with smashed light fixtures, it looked like a reception area. There was a lift to the central spoke of the ship where visitors would dock their skiffs, and there was a large plaque on the wall reading 'the Calendula' in corporate letterhead. Comfortable chairs for the visitors were around, and they weren't upended or moved into a pile or barricade. The plaque read that the owner was a company called Scientific Charters. There was also a map with the ship's layout, which they studied. The main laboratory area was still a little way off. The cargo bay and another air raft bay, the main drive pods, and the bridge were in Quadrant 1 and 2 on the other side of the ship. Engineering and the auxiliary bridge were closer.
"If we backtrack to the auxiliary bridge we can see the camera footage and get an idea of what happened on board." Dendr mused, poking the auxiliary bridge on the map. "and then from there we can go to the big lab. If we go through Quadrant 3 there's just a whole bunch of unknown."
"Quadrant 3 has a whole lot of pinch points." Hasta rumbled. He didn't relish the thought of fighting in close quarters without a true squad at his back, but he fondled his gun. He could handle whatever would come at them.
"If we go to the auxiliary bridge...it won't be the most fun route." Dendr smiled knowingly at the big man.
"I'm not here for the fun, Hasta." Moira scowled at Dendr's suggestion. Everyone knew Hasta would be making the decision on which route to take, he would be in front, leading them. She was just hoping Hasta would listen to reason. "So we backtrack to the auxiliary bridge?"
"I'll just leave this here." Dendr said. He took out an audio-visual bug from a pocket and attached it to a wall panel near the corner of the foyer. "It will record and warn me if anyone comes up from this side."
They went back to the auxiliary lab and saw movement in one corner. Someone was there, with their back turned towards them. It looked like a human female. She looked dishevelled, her blond hair in lots of tiny braids swinging from side to side as she moved.
"Stop!" Myles shouted in a commanding voice. He didn't want her to run, or be startled and become aggressive.
The woman startled and one of her feet landed on some equipment that was on the floor. She stumbled and regained her footing, looking furtively around, trying to see where the voice had come from.
"We don't mean you any harm, we've only come to see what happened to the ship. You've missed several windows of communication. It looks like you're one of the survivors, and you've been through quite a lot." Myles continued. He walked forward slowly, extending a hand to reassure her. "Now...we just need some information about what's happened."
The woman turned around and Myles recognised her from the picture Halglee had shown them. Her hair was dishevelled and there was a bruise on her face, but they recognised the lead scientist, Hollo Ezrahm.
"Who sent you? Who are you? What are you doing here?" she blurted out. They could see one of her teeth was chipped as she spoke quickly. "Please don't hurt me. I haven't done anything wrong."
"We don't intend to hurt you Hollo Ezrahm." Myles replied. His kind words were followed by a military matter-of-factness as he spoke her full name. "We were sent by Dalglee Hahsh. They were concerned you missed multiple windows of communication. They have no idea what's going on and they sent us here to find out." He paused for a moment. "We've found a couple of bodies and obviously..."
"What bodies?" Hollo interrupted, her voice sounding high and panicked. "It's nothing to do with me. What bodies did you find?" She fidgeted with her jumpsuit nervously.
Qupar raised his weapon somewhat, and Hollo obviously noticed. "What are you doing? Why are you raising your weapons?" Her eyes darted nervously from Myles and his weapon to the weapons the rest of the group were holding a little further off.
"Everyone just calm down for a minute, okay?" Myles said placatingly. "We're trying to work out who or what is killing people on this ship. Do you have any idea what that could be?"
"It's nothing to do with me. I don't know what is going on." Hollo replied. "It's...it's...I don't know what's going on. I've been attacked."
"Who attacked you?" Moira asked.
"It's been horrible, it's just...it....it..." Hollo sobbed; "...it's been absolute hell being here....one day we're doing our work...and...and...the next day is...oh my God it's like...an explosion and all hell has let loose...people started fighting each other and attacking each other...it's too much...I don't want to think about it...it's just horrible."
"Okay." Myles thought for a moment. "What were you researching? What was the job of this station?"
"I don't know if I'm allowed to tell you." Hollo said, distracted from her memories for a moment. "Lysari...I signed an NDA, I can't talk about that."
"We haven't encountered what is attacking people." Myles said. "We don't know. But you are safer now, with us, than you are alone. We should check you over, a quick med-check because it's been quite an ordeal, you might need food and water and other things as well."
He pulled up a lab stool for her to sit, making sure his gun arm was pointed away from her so she couldn't reach it. Hollo hesitantly moved towards the seat. "You're not going to hurt me, are you?"
"Unless I have to defend myself for whatever reason, no." Myles tried to pacify her, but Hollo's eyes widened.
"Why would you want to defend yourself? Why why why would you mention that?"
Myles replied in a calming voice. "It's quite obvious that something on this ship is killing your crew."
"It wasn't me. It wasn't..." Hollo said quickly. She finally sank down on the stool, and Myles waved Qupar over.
Qupar set the med kit down on a crate next to Hollo and nodded kindly. "Ma'am. Would you allow me to see what state you're in and assess your injuries?"
"Yeah...but I feel fine but uh...I suppose." Hollo replied irritably. There were some welts on her arms, and it looked like she had been scratching them. There was some blood, but they were superficial injuries and cuts.
Qupar put on a set of latex gloves and looked her over. She was grubby and there was blood under the fingernails of her left hand, but he couldn't see if it was her own blood under there. There were blood splatters on her clothes as well. Several of her teeth were chipped, he could now see. He fiddled with the med kit and took Hollo's temperature, which was slightly elevated. Her blood pressure was understandably high, the stress of being in such a situation would affect any person's blood pressure.
He carefully set his palm on her forehead to check her pupils with a light and as he looked at them, they suddenly dilated swiftly. Out of nowhere Hollo had a laser scalpel in her hand, and she slashed at Qupar. He was startled, but quick enough to push Hollo away from him before the scalpel could cut him. The stool she sat on toppled, and Qupar quickly got to his feet. He knew that Hasta would be more than happy to shoot anything that attacked any one of them, and he didn't want to get caught in the crossfire. Hollo also managed to get to her feet, and stayed close enough to him for another attack. His shove had had little effect, and he clearly underestimated how strong she was.
"Blade!" Qupar shouted, taking his gun out and pulling the trigger twice in a reflex. The bullets hit her in the chest and stomach, the impact only made her stagger for a moment, and she was still standing. He gaped. Two slugs at point-blank range on a scientist shouldn't mean the person was still standing. He'd seen thugs go down for less.
Myles was already in motion, covering the distance between them in a flash. He whipped Hollo across the head with the butt of his pistol and she reeled from the blow. As dazed and bloodied as she was, she was still going for Qupar. She slashed with the scalpel again, but she missed him completely as she stumbled a bit.
Qupar reacted instantly. He grabbed her right arm and twisted so she couldn't try anything with the scalpel, and kicked her legs out from under her. She went down hard, and he held onto her arm, rolling her onto her stomach. Hollo screamed at the top of her lungs in frustration and tried to kick at Qupar. He grabbed the restraints from where he'd clipped them onto the vacc suit belt, and locked them around her wrists.
"We want you alive." Qupar growled. "Don't make me hurt you."
"This is where we get to use some of that patented police brutality." Dendr remarked with a wry smile.
"I'm sure you're recording all of this." Qupar replied unfazed.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Read the next entry in this campaign.
Read the first entry in this campaign.
