Fic: First Blood, cont. WARNING: Child death, child abuse, violence, language.
Note: The bit at the very end is part of a framing device that I'm going to add into the beginning of this story, where Ali is forced encouraged to relate her early years aboard the Relentless to a psychiatrist during the trial proceedings at the end of Shadow of Her Sins.
* * *
“Okay, I can do that!”
“Good girl. Now let's boost you in.”
“Wait a moment,” Fahdah said. She stepped between Ali-Kat and Sgt. Jack briefly, placing two fingers on Ali's forehead a moment and reciting, "Audhukuma bi kalamatillahi tamah min kulli shaitaneen wa hamatin wa min kulli ainin lamatin."
“What was that?” Ali-Kat asked, her eyes wide.
“A prayer for your safety,” Fahdah replied gravely, stepping back.
“Enough,” Sgt. Jack said gruffly. “Let's get this done. Boost her up.”
Together the two adults lifted Ali-Kat up by the waist, guiding her into the narrow ventilation shaft. It was narrow, dusty and very dark inside. Without enough to actually crawl on her hands and knees, she was forced to push herself along with her footpads and pull with her elbows awkwardly. She sneezed twice as she struggled to pull her torch from her gunbelt, the sound echoing up and down the close steel walls.
There was a buzzing sound from the comset in her ear. “Are you all right, Ali-Kat?” Sgt. Jack asked.
“I'm all right,” she replied. Well, she wasn't to be honest. Her ears kept brushing against the top of the shaft, dropping clumps of dust into her eyes, the ill-fitting carapace armor was digging into her hips and shoulders, and her heart was pounfing so loudly that in her chest she thought it might burst.
After shoving herself what she guessed was five meters forward, she found the turn Sgt. Jack had mentioned. The cross-shaft was narrower than the one she'd entered, forcing her down on her belly as she turned awkwardly into it. It was another two meters forward until she reached the end of the shaft and a small vent grill. From the room beyond she could hear whispers, two high-pitched, one slightly lower, though she couldn't understand what language they were speaking.
“I'm at the vent, Sergeant Jack. What do I do now?” she whispered into her comset.
“Take the flashbang I gave you, open the vent, and toss it in. Then shoot anyone holding a gun or a knife. Got it?”
Ali-Kat swallowed, her stomach feeling like it was filled with lead. “All by myself?”
“You can do it, Ali-Kat. I know you can.”
“All right.” She peeked through the vent cover. The steel slats were angled downward, giving only a view of a grey steel floor. She could still hear the voices though, speaking in something other than Galactic Basic. Then she made herself ready, pulling a pair of foam ear protectors from her pocket and pressing them into her ear canals, slipping the goggles resting on her forehead down over her eyes, then unholstering her pistol and double-checking that its power cell was at full charge and the safety was off. All good.
She braced her toes against a welded seam in the shaft, then pressed her palm pad against the vent cover. It was hinged at the bottom for ease of maintenance, and she was able to pop the top latches with a hard shove. The cover flopped open, banging against the bulkhead, as Ali-Kat immediately tossed the flashbang into the compartment, closing her eyes against the flash. Even with the ear protectors the BANG of the grenade going off left her ears ringing and her nose filled with the smell of cordite from the explosive charge.
She levered her head, arms and shoulders out of the through the opening. Three small figures were in the vault. The two smallest were writhing on the floor in apparent pain. The third, a boy perhaps as tall as Ali-Kat's standing height, was kneeling on the floor, eyes blinking blindly from the grenade's flash. Held in both his hands was a small plasma pistol.
She didn't remember pulling the trigger on her own weapon. She just saw a bright streak of superheated gas travel from the muzzle of her pistol straight to her target, striking him at the intersection of his neck and shoulder, dropping him lifeless to the deck. Then she was shoving herself out of the ventilation shaft, tumbling as she fell to land on her upper back and shoulders. She pushed herself to her feet, waving her gun at the other two... humans? Yes, humans, with pale, pinkish, furless skin, save for the weird patch of headfur that Sgt. Jack always kept shaved.
One of the two surviving humans looked up at Ali-Kat and opened their mouth in a scream that the foxen girl couldn't hear over the ringing in her ears. The human, a female, headfur woven into a black braid that went down her back, got to her feet, arms raised in surrender or to strike, Ali-Kat would never be quite sure which, when she later remembered this moment. Her pistol fired again. The shirt the female wore has yellow birds printed on a deep blue field, and then there was a hole in it, the edges melted, open to a shaft red and black blood, half-boiled away. Then the girl fell face first to the floor, dropping as hard as the boy had, a matching dark hole at her back.
Then Ali-Kat's pistol fell from her hand and bounced up and down against her thigh, as the dummy cord clipped between its butt and her belt caught it, and she was leaning against the wall, vomiting, as the smell of burned and dead flesh hit her sensitive nose.
It couldn't have been more than a minute since she entered the chamber, before Sgt. Jack's voice came over her comset again. “Ali-Kat! Ali-Kat! Report in!”
She coughed and spat to one side, answering hoarsely, “I'm here.”
“Is the vault secure?”
She glanced over to the surviving human, another female, curled up sobbing in one corner of the compartment, as far as she could get from Ali-Kat and the two bodies on the floor. “Y-yes.”
“Then open it up, we're right outside.”
She stumbled, pistol still bouncing against her thigh, over to the hatch, blindly punching the release button on the panel beside it. The locks clicked back and the hatch slid into the wall recess, revealing Sgt. Jack and Fahdah waiting for her.
“Jesus! Pick your weapon up and set the safety on!” Sgt. Jack said sharply. “You want to blow your own foot off?”
“Sorry,” she mumbled, grabbing the butt of her pistol and reseting the safety before holstering it. After she'd finished, Sgt. Jack pushed past her into the vault, while Fahdah covered the passageway.
“Shit,” Sgt. Jack cursed, “why did you shoot one of the girls? Did you think she was armed?”
“N-no, but she stood up and raised her hands and.... I don't know...” Ali-Kat ducked down, wincing as Sgt. Jack slapped her hard between the ears.
“Stupid girl! No way Lady Margo is going to give you a raider's share after screwing up like that! Hell, I'll be lucky get mine.” He kicked the dead girl's body over, comparing it to the survivor, who was looking at them all silently, her eyes red with tears. “Christ, they were twins. Do you know how much money you just blew, for all of us?”
“I... I'm sorry...”
He swatted at her again, not quite as hard this time, turning to grab the human female and drag her out the vault and out into the passageway. Over his shoulder, he shouted to Fahdah, “Get Ali-Kat back to the ship. If we're lucky we can dump this all on her and get Lady Margo off our backs for screwing up.”
“Yessir,” Fahdah said, ears drooping. The big wazagan wrapped an arm around Ali-Kat's shoulders and guided her out of the vault and down the passageway, towards the lock opposite where the shuttle boarded, where the Relentless would soon attach itself to start off-loading the freighter's cargo.
“Did I mess up?” Ali-Kat asked softly.
“Yes,” Fahdah said, giving her shoulders a squeeze as they walked. “Don't worry though. Lady Margo will get over it, after a while.”
She sniffed. The burned meat smell from the vault was drifting down the passageway, and she couldn't seem to escape it. “I don't want to do that again.”
“Habibi, I don't think you're going to have much choice.”
* * *
Dr. Harbold stared at her as she finished. “What happened after that? Was Lady Margo angry with you?”
“Yeah, I didn't get my cut,” Ali answered. She rubbed her right shoulder briefly. “I eared my allegiance mark though.”
“And were you forced to do anything like that again?”
“Yeah. I got better with practice.”
* * *
“Okay, I can do that!”
“Good girl. Now let's boost you in.”
“Wait a moment,” Fahdah said. She stepped between Ali-Kat and Sgt. Jack briefly, placing two fingers on Ali's forehead a moment and reciting, "Audhukuma bi kalamatillahi tamah min kulli shaitaneen wa hamatin wa min kulli ainin lamatin."
“What was that?” Ali-Kat asked, her eyes wide.
“A prayer for your safety,” Fahdah replied gravely, stepping back.
“Enough,” Sgt. Jack said gruffly. “Let's get this done. Boost her up.”
Together the two adults lifted Ali-Kat up by the waist, guiding her into the narrow ventilation shaft. It was narrow, dusty and very dark inside. Without enough to actually crawl on her hands and knees, she was forced to push herself along with her footpads and pull with her elbows awkwardly. She sneezed twice as she struggled to pull her torch from her gunbelt, the sound echoing up and down the close steel walls.
There was a buzzing sound from the comset in her ear. “Are you all right, Ali-Kat?” Sgt. Jack asked.
“I'm all right,” she replied. Well, she wasn't to be honest. Her ears kept brushing against the top of the shaft, dropping clumps of dust into her eyes, the ill-fitting carapace armor was digging into her hips and shoulders, and her heart was pounfing so loudly that in her chest she thought it might burst.
After shoving herself what she guessed was five meters forward, she found the turn Sgt. Jack had mentioned. The cross-shaft was narrower than the one she'd entered, forcing her down on her belly as she turned awkwardly into it. It was another two meters forward until she reached the end of the shaft and a small vent grill. From the room beyond she could hear whispers, two high-pitched, one slightly lower, though she couldn't understand what language they were speaking.
“I'm at the vent, Sergeant Jack. What do I do now?” she whispered into her comset.
“Take the flashbang I gave you, open the vent, and toss it in. Then shoot anyone holding a gun or a knife. Got it?”
Ali-Kat swallowed, her stomach feeling like it was filled with lead. “All by myself?”
“You can do it, Ali-Kat. I know you can.”
“All right.” She peeked through the vent cover. The steel slats were angled downward, giving only a view of a grey steel floor. She could still hear the voices though, speaking in something other than Galactic Basic. Then she made herself ready, pulling a pair of foam ear protectors from her pocket and pressing them into her ear canals, slipping the goggles resting on her forehead down over her eyes, then unholstering her pistol and double-checking that its power cell was at full charge and the safety was off. All good.
She braced her toes against a welded seam in the shaft, then pressed her palm pad against the vent cover. It was hinged at the bottom for ease of maintenance, and she was able to pop the top latches with a hard shove. The cover flopped open, banging against the bulkhead, as Ali-Kat immediately tossed the flashbang into the compartment, closing her eyes against the flash. Even with the ear protectors the BANG of the grenade going off left her ears ringing and her nose filled with the smell of cordite from the explosive charge.
She levered her head, arms and shoulders out of the through the opening. Three small figures were in the vault. The two smallest were writhing on the floor in apparent pain. The third, a boy perhaps as tall as Ali-Kat's standing height, was kneeling on the floor, eyes blinking blindly from the grenade's flash. Held in both his hands was a small plasma pistol.
She didn't remember pulling the trigger on her own weapon. She just saw a bright streak of superheated gas travel from the muzzle of her pistol straight to her target, striking him at the intersection of his neck and shoulder, dropping him lifeless to the deck. Then she was shoving herself out of the ventilation shaft, tumbling as she fell to land on her upper back and shoulders. She pushed herself to her feet, waving her gun at the other two... humans? Yes, humans, with pale, pinkish, furless skin, save for the weird patch of headfur that Sgt. Jack always kept shaved.
One of the two surviving humans looked up at Ali-Kat and opened their mouth in a scream that the foxen girl couldn't hear over the ringing in her ears. The human, a female, headfur woven into a black braid that went down her back, got to her feet, arms raised in surrender or to strike, Ali-Kat would never be quite sure which, when she later remembered this moment. Her pistol fired again. The shirt the female wore has yellow birds printed on a deep blue field, and then there was a hole in it, the edges melted, open to a shaft red and black blood, half-boiled away. Then the girl fell face first to the floor, dropping as hard as the boy had, a matching dark hole at her back.
Then Ali-Kat's pistol fell from her hand and bounced up and down against her thigh, as the dummy cord clipped between its butt and her belt caught it, and she was leaning against the wall, vomiting, as the smell of burned and dead flesh hit her sensitive nose.
It couldn't have been more than a minute since she entered the chamber, before Sgt. Jack's voice came over her comset again. “Ali-Kat! Ali-Kat! Report in!”
She coughed and spat to one side, answering hoarsely, “I'm here.”
“Is the vault secure?”
She glanced over to the surviving human, another female, curled up sobbing in one corner of the compartment, as far as she could get from Ali-Kat and the two bodies on the floor. “Y-yes.”
“Then open it up, we're right outside.”
She stumbled, pistol still bouncing against her thigh, over to the hatch, blindly punching the release button on the panel beside it. The locks clicked back and the hatch slid into the wall recess, revealing Sgt. Jack and Fahdah waiting for her.
“Jesus! Pick your weapon up and set the safety on!” Sgt. Jack said sharply. “You want to blow your own foot off?”
“Sorry,” she mumbled, grabbing the butt of her pistol and reseting the safety before holstering it. After she'd finished, Sgt. Jack pushed past her into the vault, while Fahdah covered the passageway.
“Shit,” Sgt. Jack cursed, “why did you shoot one of the girls? Did you think she was armed?”
“N-no, but she stood up and raised her hands and.... I don't know...” Ali-Kat ducked down, wincing as Sgt. Jack slapped her hard between the ears.
“Stupid girl! No way Lady Margo is going to give you a raider's share after screwing up like that! Hell, I'll be lucky get mine.” He kicked the dead girl's body over, comparing it to the survivor, who was looking at them all silently, her eyes red with tears. “Christ, they were twins. Do you know how much money you just blew, for all of us?”
“I... I'm sorry...”
He swatted at her again, not quite as hard this time, turning to grab the human female and drag her out the vault and out into the passageway. Over his shoulder, he shouted to Fahdah, “Get Ali-Kat back to the ship. If we're lucky we can dump this all on her and get Lady Margo off our backs for screwing up.”
“Yessir,” Fahdah said, ears drooping. The big wazagan wrapped an arm around Ali-Kat's shoulders and guided her out of the vault and down the passageway, towards the lock opposite where the shuttle boarded, where the Relentless would soon attach itself to start off-loading the freighter's cargo.
“Did I mess up?” Ali-Kat asked softly.
“Yes,” Fahdah said, giving her shoulders a squeeze as they walked. “Don't worry though. Lady Margo will get over it, after a while.”
She sniffed. The burned meat smell from the vault was drifting down the passageway, and she couldn't seem to escape it. “I don't want to do that again.”
“Habibi, I don't think you're going to have much choice.”
* * *
Dr. Harbold stared at her as she finished. “What happened after that? Was Lady Margo angry with you?”
“Yeah, I didn't get my cut,” Ali answered. She rubbed her right shoulder briefly. “I eared my allegiance mark though.”
“And were you forced to do anything like that again?”
“Yeah. I got better with practice.”