Into The Black - Part 10 - Catfight

Fan Fiction Friday! This weeks escape pod is to the details of this weekends "Deathrace". Sounds a lot of fun and a lot of prizes to be won. Unfortunately for me its on a work night and late in my TZ otherwise I'd be there. Middle East weekends have some good things like I'm off today and you're probably at work. Then there are bad things like Saturday night is early to bed and I'm in the office at 7am on a Sunday whilst you're still in bed, you lucky bar steward!!! Anyway, I recommend you look up the Deathrace page and I will link it again at the bottom of this weeks fiction.

Into The Black - Part 10 - Catfight

The huge robotic arms swung backwards and forwards picking up parts and depositing them elsewhere as the assembly lines rolled forward. The factory was almost entirely automated and self-sufficient requiring no human intervention. The raven-haired Gallente agent walked between the lines, gracefully dodging the swinging machinery with ease, blaster pistol in her hand. She slowed as she reached the area her adversary ad taken cover in.

The blond Caldari agent suddenly sprung from behind the large robotic arm on the assembly line with a scrambler pistol pointed with precision. She fired two shots at the Gallente agent who dived into cover before she reappeared firing her own pistol at the blond Caldari assassin. She sprang up high onto a ledge firing twice more forcing the Caldari agent to first dodge and then somersault backwards over the conveyor belt.

For a neutral observer, the gun battle was as a beautiful spectacle as such things can be. The two assassins danced around each other using their super-human movement. Their actions were fluid, graceful, yet deadly. They each used the swinging machinery to their advantage giving them extra burst of speed and agility as they jumped from one place to another. The fire-fight lasted 2 minutes before both of their pistols clicked empty at the same time. The Gallente agent jumped down into the isle between two of the assembly lines, the Caldari stepped out of the shadow of the huge robotic arm she had taken cover behind. They faced each other on the factory floor, casually tossing their spent pistols to the side.

The Caldari agent smiled sweetly as she drew a wicked combat knife from her belt. The black-haired Gallente agent subtlety nodded and did the same and they slowly walked towards each other.

-o0o-

Dorn ran with Kara in tow following the direction indicator on the device the Gallente agent had given him. Outside the factory the terrain was unlevel with many dips and crests. After 5 minutes following the blinking indicator, he spotted a small shuttle idling in a depression in the landscape. 

The ship must have detected the proximity of the device that he was holding as a door slid opened and a small set of steps descended automatically to the ground. Dorn bounded up the steps two at a time as he heard the engines powering up. The small ship appeared to be designed to make a speedy escape he assumed and the proximity of the device he was holding had triggered a number of initial start-up sequences. A handy vessel to have when you needed to be airborne in the least time possible he thought.

By the time Kara climbed the steps Dorn was already sat in the pilots chair running through the pre-flight checks.

"What about the woman who helped us?" Kara asked concerned.

"Take a look." Dorn nodded to a screen. Kara looked and saw a screen that was apparently hacked into the factories surveillance system. The screen showed a wide angle shot of the factory floor where the two agents were locked in a bitter knife fight.

"That's how she knew we were there. She had access to the local security net." Dorn said as he continued preparing the vessel to leave.

Kara wasn't really listening, she had become hypnotised at the spectacle unfolding on the monitor in front of her.

-o0o-

The blond Caldari agent pulled back as the black-haired Gallente agent swiped the knife at her face. The razor-sharp knife nicked the Caldari agent on the cheek and she instinctively touched her hand to the wound. When she brought it back down she saw the metallic silver liquid that flowed through her veins. If you could call it that, first 'blood' had gone to the Gallente agent.

"Nice move.... sister." The Caldari agent purred.

"Thank you. From the look of what is leaking from your face it would indeed appear we are 'blood' relatives." Asia replied.

"Well I hope you aren't expecting any family favours. I am going to slowly gut you and, if you are still alive after that, I am going to garrotte you with your intestines."

"How are you going to manage that?" Asia purred back "When you have my knife buried to the hilt in your right eye?"

The Caldari smiled and moved forward.

The Gallente agent pressed the attack. Both assassins were experts in hand-to-hand combat. Blows were blocked, knife swipes were dodged and thrusts were parried. Both used a mix of various martial arts to try and land the critical blow on their opponent.The Caldari landed a kick to the Gallente's face causing her to stumble back but as the Caldari pounced she fought back with her own kick to the blonds stomach which caused her to crash into a pillar before she lept forward, knife in hand.

Kara wasn't the only one watching this spectacle remotely. Intelligence Officer Garrett had also hacked into the factory's security cameras and was intently watching this dance of death involving his commanding officer from the orbiting cloaked Tengu.

The Gallente assassin appeared to be getting the upper hand. The Caldari now had shallow cuts on both her upper arm and stomach. The wounds leaked the same metallic silvery liquid which ran in stark contrast down her skin tight black suit. The Gallente agent pressed the attack thinking she had her opponent right where she wanted her, nearly up against the wall. Then she saw her opening, the Caldari agent had dropped her guard on her left side and the opportunity was there. The Gallente aimed her knife for the Caldari's heart and came in with a lightning fast strike. But the blond agent expected this, she had even invited it. In a blur she knocked the brunettes arm high and span her round. The Gallente agent was slammed backwards into the wall with the blond crashing into her, there nose practically touching. The Gallente agents mouth was open in a silent scream, her knife dropped from her now open hand and clattered on the floor. 

The Caldari agent kept her body pressed up against the other woman, holding the Gallente's now limp body tight against the wall. The Caldari's knife was embedded to the hilt in the left side of the Gallente agents stomach.

"Good fight girl.... Good fight." the blond whispered into the ear of the Gallente woman as if she was comforting a child.

"Sorry, but I did promise this." She pulled the knife partially out and then very slowly and deliberately drew it to the right between their bodies. The Gallente's eye's bulged and her mouth opened wide although no scream left her mouth as the Caldari woman slit her stomach open. 

-o0o-

"I don't care what agreements are in place between the mega-corps and the Navy! I want to know what industrial secrets are so important we sent an entire task force two jumps from the Gallente border!" Heth screamed in a rage.

Miss Marisaki, his personal assistant, just stood there waiting for him to finish.

"Yes Executor. I am trying to ascertain that information. However, the Admiral was correct to act when requested as per article 45-62c. A task force can be deployed in an emergency, time-critical situation as it was on request from the CEO without further authorisation."

Heth just sat there fuming. He knew she was right, but it didn't matter. Super-carriers were far too valuable to risk in this situation like this. They claimed the data that the thieves were carrying was critical to the State which allowed the mega-corp CEO make the order to the Navy without approval from Heth under the emergency orders rule. But nobody was telling him what this critical data was that justified such a massive risk. 

"I want the entire board ready for a conference at 1100 hours Miss Marisaki." Heth finally said "And warn them that apologies for absence will be returned with force!"

-o0o-

Kara let out a sob as she saw the scene in the factory unfold. She watched on the small monitor as the Caldari agent stepped back and the Gallente woman slid down the wall slowly, her hands trying to hold her insides in the large wound. Silver liquid flowed through her fingers from her midriff where the Caldari had opened her up hip to hip. She was gasping for breath and clearly in a massive amount of pain. Kara wasn't a doctor but she knew the wound must have been fatal.

The Caldari agent squatted down and had a strange look on her face that took Kara a minute to figure out.

Although they were hundreds of kilometers apart, Kara and Officer Garrett had the same thought at the same instant. The Caldari agent could have easily killed the Gallente agent instantly. But she had chosen to inflict a horrific shallow wound. The Caldari agent was watching the Gallente woman slowly die, and was appearing to enjoy it.

They both watched in horror as the Caldari agent finally took the Gallente womans hands and moved them away from where they were pressing the wound closed. The Gallente agent had not the strength to resist. With no pressure on the wound it opened up, and her life started to slip away faster. The Caldari agent took the other woman's head in her hands and gently kissed her as the Gallente released her last breath. The Caldai agent stood, lingered for a moment over the dead body and then started to stride to the exit door Dorn and Kara had left through.

Kara felt physically sick, she took a few deep breaths and turned to Dorn who was solemnly looking at the monitor.

"If she corners us, and there is no way to escape. You cannot let me be captured. I don't know who that it is, but she is pure evil. You need to promise me she won't take me alive." Kara said and nodded to Dorns hip.

Dorn looked down at the gun strapped to his leg and just nodded in understanding.

Back in high orbit on the Tengu, Officer Garrett simply shut off the monitor showing the factory floor and closed his eyes, trying to comprehend the horror he had just witnessed. 

Nowhere in all his career in the intelligence service had he seen such evil as he had in the last few days. He worked with some of the most ruthless people in the State, but this new agent, there was something seriously wrong with her.

-o0o- 

The Caldari agent moved fast through the terrain. Her enhanced vision picking up the trail Dorn and Kara had left in the short grass and shrub. She was energised after the fight. The kill had excited her. She wanted more. Ideally she would have played with that Gallente woman a while longer, she was imaging the things she could have done to her if she'd had the time. But she knew the fugitives were running and couldn't let them get too far ahead so had to kill her much faster than she'd have liked.

The shallow wounds she had received herself had almost entirely healed. The trillions of nanites in her blood stream had closed the wounds and were busy regenerating the flesh and skin. The only evidence now were the thin slices in her clothing and a slight reddening of the skin where the nanites still were patching her up.

The Caldari woman wondered if she'd always been like this? She had difficulty recalling much of her life before the conditioning. Had she'd always fantasised about these things or was it part of her conditioning that released these thoughts from some suppressed, dark corner of her brain? The training she'd received had been intense and had covered multiple interrogation techniques. But she couldn't recall her instructors recommending using industrial robotic arms to slowly stretch the victim as she carefully used her knife on them, as she was imagining doing to Dorn and Kara right now.

She sensed the movement before she heard it. The Caldari agent dropped to the floor as the shuttle roared over her from over the rise. The hot air from the exhausts buffering her body. She stood and watched the small craft head up towards space. The shuttle was clearly Gallente and must have belonged to the agent she had just killed. She it must be a small landing craft similar to the one she had on the Tengu. It was a pretty safe assumption that the fugitives were on that ship.

The assassin surveyed the land around her. Her focus shifted to the infrastructure launch pad, her only way off the planet. She typed some orders for the Tengu captain on her datapad and set off in a fast sprint towards the facility that launched goods to the orbiting customs office for collection by the capsuleers.

...to be continued.....

Here's the link to the Deathrace again plus I've also finished writing this series! The final part will be part 15 which will be posted the last weekend before I set off for Fanfest (I leave the Middle East the previous Thursday before FF to see the family in the UK before heading to Iceland). Good timing eh!