11 - Turning the Tide - Part 4

Everything had gone exactly as intended. Obviously the Janissaries would expect a trap, but Sandrielle had managed to turn wariness into a misplaced sense of control. The psychological effect of giving herself over in person was not lost on the capsuleer pilot. When one mostly lived life as the organic core of the most advanced machines, being confronted with a mere human tended to engender a feeling of superiority. To him, she was a soft target, completely at his mercy.

Naturally, the guards viewed the situation differently. They did not have a capsuleer's acquired sense of invulnerability, so they stayed vigilant throughout the time they spent escorting her through their ship. On the other hand, they were not fully aware of her abilities. She had ample time to study their movements and reflex patterns, and to prepare herself for the coming confrontation.

When the one called Lorkh connected the data carrier as ordered, the logic bomb, Alira had cleverly programmed into the device's circuitry, did it's devastating work on the capsule control system. The moment to act had come.

Sandrielle pulled out the mono-molecular filament she had sheathed inside her hairband with her right. Her left hand shot out at the weapon of the guard she had marked as the most tense. As she had expected, the attack caused him to pull the trigger. The force of her strike was measured perfectly to divert the man's shot as intended. It burned right through the back of Lorkh's skull where he stood.

While she dropped into a low spin she continued the arch of movement her right arm had started when releasing the lethally sharp compound thread. Aided by the inertia it's weighed end lent it, the filament effortlessly sliced through the third soldier's body armor and the soft flesh underneath. His body was cut apart in a neat downward angle from the right shoulder to his left hip.

Sandrielle's right leg shot upward and retracted just before it would be severed by that very same concealed weapon. Her kick hit the chestplate of the guard behind her with a lethally focused impact. The shockwave which resonated through the protective mesh crushed the soldier's heart in an instant.

She could hear the discharge of two pulse shots from the last man standing, the one she had made shoot Lorkh. His shots went wide, it all had happened too fast for him to follow. The weighed monofilament followed the momentum of her spin and sliced upward as she rose again. In a mirror image of the second guard's death, it bisected that soldier from the right hip to the left shoulder. With a reflex contraction of muscles he discharged another shot into empty air before his body slid apart with a wet thud followed by a shower of blood.

It was over within seconds. Just long enough for the hair she had severed by pulling the lethal thread to hit the ground. Spattered with blood Sandrielle took one deep breath to compose herself.

Continuing quickly, she dashed to the interface console of the disabled capsule control system and hit the emergency release. While the pod's shell split open to reveal the pilot inside, she briskly wrenched a first-aid kit from it's mounting point on the wall, opened it, and took out an osmotic injector. Already the capsule fluid had drained, and the glowing receptacle released the pilot.

Kueres dropped to the floor after the umbilicals had disconnected from his spine. He was still disoriented from the induced shock that had overloaded his nervous system moments earlier. Confused he struggled to get up and regain his bearings, but Sandrielle was already next to him and forced him back to the ground by kneeling on his back.

'It seems like you have underestimated my reputation for treachery.' she sarcastically echoed his earlier words, then she injected a strong sedative into his jugular.

'Or maybe you misjudged my potential for loyalty?' she rhetorically wondered at the prone, unconscious man. She got up again and began to take off her suit.

***

The controls of the advanced Amarr ship were difficult to get used to at first. Sandrielle had little experience and only rudimentary training when it came to vessels like this one. At least, the basic capsule interface worked the same. After she reviewed the communications log, it became obvious that Kueres had not come here alone. Two cloaked ships must be hidden nearby. With satisfaction she also registered, that a large group of soldiers and technical personnel had been sent to her ship. Reviewing her memory of Kueres' voice, she imprinted it's pitch and timbre into the communication systems.

'Everyone, stand by for warp. The spy has provided us with the location of our main objective. We have an opportunity to get a special reward.' she transmitted on the squad's channel, imitating the Khanid capsuleer's voice. All her skill went into emphasizing and inflecting the words to full effect.

The tone of voice was meant to trigger the mercenary mindset of her recipients, overruling the capacity for better judgment by the desire for wealth. She disengaged the docking link with her own ship, stranding the people who had been dispatched there. 'We will come back for the traitor's ship later.' she added with Kueres' imitated voice, then she took control and warped the small squad to the trap that laid in wait for it.

***

Keram woke up in a cell that induced a momentary sense of panic in him. The dark brass-coloured interiour, the yellow lighting and the fact that he found himself completely naked, triggered his worst fears. Startled he rose from the spartan cot, but then he began to remember what had happened. The heated rush of adrenaline subsided and his heartbeat slowed. His ship had been destroyed in a fight with mercenaries, this was the inside of their carrier. It was not a cell in the torture dungeons of the Amarr Ministry for Internal Order. If nothing else, the severe-looking, blond Deteis woman who glared at him through the cell's force field made him realize that.

'Keram Themas.' she addressed him while she consulted the readout of his cell monitor.

'Thank you for reminding me, I wasn't sure whether I still knew my own name.' he replied with a wolfish grin and lewdly exposed his nakedness to the woman dressed in the red-and-tan of a Janissary trooper. “And you are?' he continued 'I just hate to shout out the wrong girl's name when we get it on, it puts such a damper on things.' his grin lingered provocatively.

A derisive smirk twisted the woman's thin lips into a grimace 'Your crude advances will only get you into more trouble.' she replied dryly.

Keram leaned forward from his reclined position. 'Oh, so we are all business?' he defiantly stared at her. 'So tell your superiours to do their homework better next time, errand girl.' He got up and approached the force-field, locking onto her gray eyes. 'Do they think they can make me feel uncomfortable by putting me naked into a cell with a woman as my watchdog?' he spat and the force field dissipated his spittle into a wisp of steam. 'All I see is a Caldari mercenary whore who can be bought for money.' he snarled at her. 'So if you want to talk business, you better come up with something that impresses me.' and then he broke into a feral grin again 'Or you lower that force field and show me what you got.'

The woman curled her lips in disgust 'You will see soon enough pirate ' she practically spat the last word in an effort to re-establish her sense of superiority.

At that moment the heavy doors of the cell-block slid open and a silver-haired man with a clear aura of authority walked in. He took his time, hands clasped behind his back, nodding at the female officer who withdrew immediately once he arrived in front of the cell, then he set his stern gaze on Keram.

'I am commodore Sivaata of the Janissary Order.' he introduced himself. 'We do not have much time, so I will be direct with you.' the strong-jawed commander continued and held Keram's defiant stare. 'There is a simple choice I am offering you. We will deliver you to the Amarr authorities.' he ignored the sneer Keram offered as a response.'You can be delivered dead – admittedly a loss for us, but sparing you a lot of pain – or we deliver you to the Empire alive.' The Caldari mercenary stopped for a moment before he added. 'I am not an unreasonable man, and I detest unnecessary suffering.'

Keram folded his arms in front of his naked chest 'What do you want?' he replied flatly.

Sivaata drew his bushy eyebrows together into an earnest look. 'We are preparing to invade your station. We will succeed, but there will be a lot of bloodshed. If you provide us with the location of that Amarr capsuleer we have come to retrieve, we will cease our invasion, make your death quick and painless, and retreat.'

Keram broke out in laughter. 'That girl is all you want?' he asked after he recovered. 'I will tell you where she is.' in a more earnest voice 'On one condition.' he added slowly 'I want to live until you have her. Bring her here before me and let her know who sold her out.' he cackled with dry gallows humour 'I want her to realize that her god did not protect her from the likes of me before she goes.'

Sivaata nodded slowly 'It will happen as you request. Now tell me where we can find her.'

***

On the farthest edge of the system, where the solar wind of the two stars locked in their destructive union did not have sufficient energy to push against the interstellar medium anymore, close to the ionized curtain of the heliopause, a number of cargo containers were arrayed regularly in empty space, seemingly without purpose.

One moment, this remote site lay idle in apparent solitude, the next, a curved and burnished ship's hull shot out of warp, smashed into the formation of massive metal objects and scattered them off it's shield.

In the wake of the beetle-like ship's collision, things unseen impacted with the spinning obstacles, and shockwaves coursed along wedge-tailed outlines before they were revealed in the fluttering glow of the solar wind's termination shock. Just as they were exposed, a dozen of small starfish-shaped frigates emerged from the emptiness of space. An elongated, copper hull, shaped like an elaborate ceremonial weapon, materialized off the surprised Janissary's bow, and an asymmetrical, angular vessel of bluish gray behind them. Finally a vast leaf-shaped behemoth obscured the coruscating barrier that marked the limit of this solar system. As soon as the malachite-tinted leviathan had appeared, a swarm of small craft flew from the wide maw of it's launch platform and began encircling the three golden-hued craft stranded among the flung-apart containers.

'Janissary pilots. We have you locked down and outnumbered. Stand down and prepare to be boarded.' Cedrien called out from within his capsule aboard the Euryale.

His sensors showed him that the two Pilgrim-class recon ships had their warpdrives rendered inert by Alira, Shisei, and - certainly to their surprise - the Legion cruiser which they had considered to be on their side. His own ship sent out strands of strong forces, slowing them down to a crawl, and by now Shisei would have their targeting system overloaded with destructive interferences.

Bitter laughter echoed back over the hailing frequency. 'So you think by capturing a few of us you can avoid the inevitable?' a defiant voice with distinct Caldari accent retorted after the speaker had composed himself. 'Right now, our forces are probably already invading your station.' the Janissary capsuleer continued. 'All that you will have left is to trade our lives for those of the prisoners we make. If we take prisoners.'

Cedrien ignored the defiance of his opponent 'I repeat, power down your ships and prepare to be boarded.'

'For now we will stand down.' the Janissary capsuleer growled back at him. 'You win this engagement, but treachery and stealth will not win you this battle captain Roucellis.'