The open dock bay was ready to take the rescue pod into the EC-107, the ample cargo space was empty save a large auto doc. Ahriman was satisfied, he was going to get what he came for, the female Itani born CLM pilot. He briefly considered taking some of the other pilots as well but decided against it. He needed that one and after her, he needed the twin sister too. Then he could carry the research done by the honourable Dr. Lecter even further. He was dead certain that he had the key to unlocking the mental powers that the Itani people by some accounts possessed. There, a mere 128 metres to go, he tapped the thruster slightly to align the ship perfectly. His radio crackled, the shock of an incoming signal enough to make Ahriman pull the joystick slightly and push him to the left.
"I told you scum, ain't no fucking way she is leaving with you."
Ahriman looked down at his radar and the cracked screen. Not getting the information he wanted he looked out of the viewport and saw a Centurion Rev C with a completely fused front that boosted directly towards his ship.
"Lady Serco, save me."
The rev c collided with the EC-107 at 225m/s slightly below the viewport of the hunter bus like a penetrator missile hitting a five metre thick brick wall. Both ships detonated in a common fireball that disintegrated the two ships, leaving no piece larger than could pass through a chickenwire fence. The ejection pod that Retractile had engaged immediately prior to hitting the KAOS ship passed through the debris at full speed, effectively peppering the un-armoured rescue pod with what could best be likened to multiple large calibre shotgun shots. The pod started leaking air from several holes but continued its flight along the trajectory it had started on, the leaking air merely making it tumble randomly.
###
The rescue service in CLM HQ received a single hail and the officer on duty noted the location and status. He alerted the venerable Revenant Hospital ship and sent a report to the commander. Another hail, and then another. He frowned, he hadn't been asked to provide extensive service for today's shift, but the revenant should still be enough to handle up to eight pods. The screen started flashing in red and white, a pod had been launched and then breached. The pilot was in danger of asphyxiation within minutes. He pressed the alert button, launching a specially modified warthog Mk II towards the damaged pod He just hoped they would be there in time. He alerted the commanding officer in the operational part of CLM, leant back and poured a cup of coffee. Nothing more he could do now anyway.
###
The warthog moved at maximum speed across Latos and moved through the wormhole to the scene of the battle. Quickly scanning for the location of the damaged pod, the pilot boosted at full power towards the last known location. There, moving along at a sedate pace, the damaged pod. The bay on the warthog opened and swallowed the pod. Inside the compartment was quickly re-pressurised and the medical officer opened the pod to get to the human cargo inside. In the meantime the warthog had started its acceleration towards CLM HQ again. The other pods would be recovered by the regular medical ship, all three glowed a steady green across the monitors. As the warthog exited the wormhole to Latos, it sent an updated situation map to the revenant inbound along with vitals on the pilots.
The revenant entered Sedina and started picking up the CLM members. It only took about five minutes, long enough to get the first pilot out of her pod and check the vitals. She was healthy even if she was a bit pale. The autodoc injected her with a stimulant and she woke with a violent intake of air, like a drowning person that reached the surface. The autodoc moved on to the next pod. Azumi looked around and got up, moving across to the pilot of the revenant.
"Pilot, status on the CLM pods?"
"One is unknown, the emergency warthog has taken that one directly to CLM HQ. Possibility of vacuum trauma. Name, Retractile. The rest are collected and green."
Azumi swore, he had done this to protect her. She looked at the radar and came up blank, no other rescue ships were inbound.
"Pilot, you need to take that pod along as well."
She pointed, indicating Hortan's strange looking pod that was slowly leaking fluid.
"No can do Ma'am, I am only under contract to take CLM members."
Azumi looked at him as if he had just dropped from the moon. She leant over close.
"I see. Well, it was not a question. You will take him if you like those worthless pieces of meat you have dangling between your legs."
The large combat knife she always wore on her left thigh was now resting easily along the belly of the pilot, the engine's vibrations making it tap occasionally on his groin.The pilot started sweating heavily and turned the ship towards the damaged pod.
"I will report this you know."
"See if I care. You will not work for us again. We do NOT leave damaged pods in space to themselves. We are pirates, not murderers."
Not like KAOS, she thought. At least there was no pod containing Ahriman, so maybe Retractile had killed him.
The revenant scooped Hortan's leaking pod up and headed for CLM HQ.
###
Chi cleared the arrivals personnel without incident and moved to her safe house in the lower quarters of the station. She switched into something less comfortable that included a blonde wig and heavy make-up, and walked on her high heels up towards the senatorial quarters. She made sure that the data collection device in one high heel was switched on, and that the the other contained her small leech. The usual request that the senator had sent had been intercepted and re-routed by NP. The girls from Tanaka's escort service would not be working this particular senator tonight.
###
Dark, but not dark so you couldn't see. Dark in a way that you can't see directly at things. Only the peripheral vision was able to detect movement of...... of something. Sounds of metal scraping slowly across sheets of metal, clanking of chains, dripping of a liquid that sounded thicker that water, all of it coming from nowhere and ever present. A tingling sensation in the back of the neck, something is watching, something malevolent, ancient and dark. Every move associated with fear and uncertainty. A slow chant from unnaturally large beings present but not seen nor heard, merely felt in the bones, not on the skin; ia ngai ygg ntain. Only one solution to this continuing bombardment of sensory failure, one solution that would give meaning to the nightmare. Insanity.
NP noted the fungal virus take hold in his opponent's brainplant and knew that this particular foe would not surface anytime soon. He remembered when he had bought this piece of software from a small company that had tried to make a full immersion sim of a Lovecraftian story, the Haunter of the Dark. The sim had never been any good, too difficult to play and the fact that it was impossible to win made the company discard it shortly after the launch. NP had taken the game and fed it to a semi-cognient AI, creating a horror setting that was mind boggling in its complexity and no longer a game. He was very careful to keep it away from himself; even though he knew it was a sim, he was not sure he could withstand it. NP was no longer afraid of the dark, after all he knew what went bump in the night. He left the former adversary to his own lethal thoughts and focused on supporting Chi. This was going to be interesting.
