Breakdown

Fiction Friday! Escape pod here.

My father is over visiting from the UK so I've had no time this week. I have an hour now this morning whilst everyone sleeps. I wonder if I can do a quick one? I've covered low-sec crews and ganker crews recently. Another one I thought about was what happens when you get stuck in a wormhole and have to pod home. I have one hour to write this before I leave this hotel. GO!

Breakdown

Josvis knelt on the cold metal deckplates. The wire binding her wrists and ankles dug painfully into her flesh. She looked at the others. All captured, all terrified. She'd call those that did this animals. However that would be unfair. You never see animals behaving like this. It all started six months ago. It all started when their capsuleer got greedy, and stupid.

She crewed on a capsuleer battleship. They did missions for corporate agents ranging from taking out pirate outposts in deadspace to rescuing executives wayward daughters. It wasn't the best money a capsuleer could make but it was safe and easy money. Then one day the XO announced the capsuleer had decided to try something new. Wormhole space! Lured by the rewards of Sleeper tech their capsuleer had teamed up with a another to explore wormhole space. His new friend had scanned one down and given the battleship was much more combat-capable than the probing ship he'd gone in first first. Big mistake. The wormhole collapsed behind them. The huge mass of the battleship destabilised the wormhole and they had become trapped in unknown space. The capsuleers friends had tried to find a new wormhole. Another connection to the star system they were in. However it was futile. After two days the XO had announced that the capsuleer had ejected and self-destructed his pod. This triggered the pods internal brain scan and sent the capsuleers consciousness back to New Eden. He was home, they weren't. 

For the first four months things had been OK. The XO explained that wormhole space might not be busy, but capsuleers came through all the time scanning. One would find their ship and take it. No capsuleer would pass up a free fully fitted battleship just floating in space. They just had to wait. They went about their daily lives working on the ship. Life support and food was good for a year so there was no real concern. However after five months things started to break down. Fights started, law and order was slowly turning to favour those who were bigger and could punch harder. The crew started to split into two. The officers and professionals and then the crewers. Josvis was fascinated to start with. The psychology was interesting to her. The well educated and professionals on one side, her side, and the manual workers and bad-boys on the other. Generally capsuleer crews formed two types. Those who were intelligent enough to work the officer and technical positions of an advanced battleship but knew the only way to survive was to get in, make their money and get out. The other type of crew were the boarder-line psychopaths who freely worked in the most hazardous environment known to man for bucket-loads of cash.

The crew split. Then the ship split. The upper-decks were the officer types. The lower decks became no-go areas. The XO tried to bring the crew together and maintain order. He was eviscerated by a plasma cutter and sent back to the upper decks in several pieces. After that doors and hatches were welded shut. Conduits, crawlspaces and corridors barricaded. A single lift was left guarded each end by both sides. It was a ship of two halves.

For another month an uneasy truce settled. Then one night there was a raid. The lows storming the upper-decks. They had been fought back but Josvis and several others had been kidnapped and goods stolen. She shuddered to think what might happen to them. Would they be traded back for supplies that the upper-deck had access to? Was it some kind of prisoner exchange. Before the ship broken in half several of the lower deck residents had been placed in the brig of petty crimes.

A door opened and Josvis twisted to see three people come through. One was Gaustold, self proclaimed leader of the lower decks. A hulking Matari Brutor who had gotten where he was by killing anyone who opposed him rumour had it. With him were two lows Josvis knew. Kousuki was a Caldari engineer and the other was his girlfriend. An Amarrian by the name of Azaph. They were both out of uniform. Wearing clothing that was more suited to street gangs than starship crew. Azaph wore spiked boots with fishnet tights and a tight pair of tiny shorts. Her top was fishnet too revealing her black lace bra. Her black hair was short and slicked down. Her make-up was black and heavily applied. She looked like the doll of a Caldari crime organisation boss. They wandered around the six captives slowly. Azaph stopped in front of Josvis and grabbed her face.

"Hey, there's that prissy bitch from personnel! How about this one?" she sneered.

Kousuki wandered up away from the one he was looking at.

"You want that one baby?" he said menacingly.

"Slut turned me down for a promotion. Rejected my application without reading it I bet. I'd love to get some payback!"

Josvis whimpered in fear.

"How much?" Kousuki said to Gaustold.

"What you got?" he replied casually.

Josvis couldn't believe what she was hearing. She was being sold!

"I got two cases of Gallente vodka plus a holodeck with some fracking good filth from the raid. That do?"

Josvis looked up at Gaustold in panic, He was obviously mulling over the offer.

"Yeah sure. Take the whore and make sure you drop the goods off before eighteen hundred hours or its your and your bitches ass!"

Josvis screamed as Azaph grabbed her by the hair and dragged her towards the door.

-o0o-

She could hear the sonic shower running and the low-voices. Giggling. Those two were excited. Josvis lay on the unmade bed where they had thrown her. Her hands and feet still tied. She looked around, a Matari hunting knife lay on the bedside table. If she could...

"Looks like our dog has plans for your knife sweety!"

Josvis snapped her head around to the door. Azaph stood their, dressed in a small black dress and fishnet stockings with PVC thigh boots. Kousuki entered behind her, just a stained white towel wrapped around him.

"I like the outfit!" he said not looking at Josvis.

"Thought I'd dress up for you baby! Can I go first!" she purred.

Kousuki simply leaned against the doorframe as Azaph approached the bed. Josvis struggled in her bonds as the Caldari woman approached.

"Now. About that promotion. I figure you owe me two years of back-pay. I am to collect!" she sneered.

As she climbed onto the bed Josvis notice the lighting increased slightly in brightness. She first thought Kousuki had turned up the lights to see better but that wasn't it.They were already on full. She also noticed the air-vent appeared to be blowing better. That could only mean one thing if the ships systems were suddenly running better.

"All crew hear this!" a voice boomed over the speakers "My name is Ikudur and I am claiming this vessel and all its contents. You should all return to your stations as we will be returning to New Eden and heading to Jita 4-4 immediately. I note there are many crimes in progress or about to be committed. Any transgressions will be dealt under Caldari law! That is all."

The room went deadly quiet.

"Untied her." Kousuki said quietly.

"NO!" screamed Azaph in fustration.

"I'm outta here. No way I'm spending the next twenty on a 'roid penal colony. You're on your own!" he said walking out of the quarters wearing only the towel!

"Spineless Fedo sucker!" Azaph screamed after him.

Josvis saw the Amarrian glance at the knife and smile. Azaph grabbed the weapon and jumped onto of Josvis' stomach. She grabbed the sides of her white dress blouse and ripped it open sending buttons flying. She placed the blade of the knife under the central clasp of her bra.

"Frack these egger bastards! I'm going to cut off your tits first!" she said pulling the knife towards her. The white lace snapped. "The I'm going to scherious frack you with thisch blade right up your...."

Azaph paused looking confused. As well as noticing her slurred speech, Josvis felt incredibly light headed. Both women collapsed a second later.

-o0o-

Two months later....

Josvis was compiling the last of the crew reports. The nightmare on-board the Dominix a distant memory. When she awoke she'd found herself in the medical bay. The Capsuleer was aware of a dozen crimes in progress as he boarded the battleship. Those who didn't heed his warning had their air-supply adjusted. Not enough to kill, especially as victims were in the same room, but enough to disable.

Josvis had found another job on a capsuleer battleship. Another safe assignment in Empire space. She had not seen Azaph in the flesh since they both passed out. However she had received an anonymous message containing just a video file. It had been of a security camera in a prison cell. She had watched Azaph enter holding a bedding roll escorted by a guard. After the guard left the cell-mate appeared from the bottom bunk. The largest Matari Josvis had ever seen. She had to double take to ensure it wasn't actually a man. It wasn't, but she was the size of one. The huge woman held out a hand, it was the size of a persons head.

"Hello pretty!" she heard "We're going to have some real fun together for the next twenty!"

The video had faded to black as Josvis listened to the sound of Azaph begging the huge woman to keep away. A shrill scream sounded from the speakers as the recording went black.