I awoke to the sound of a heart monitor beeping away next to my bed. I blearily opened my eyes to see the fluorescent lighting overhead shining into them. Bringing a hand up to cover my eyes while they adjusted to the light, I sat up and looked around the med bay, taking in my surroundings. Both my legs were in casts, which was odd since I only broke one of them, and I now wore a medical nightgown, and Sparky lay on a bed next to me, completely passed out. Jin’s science project sat in the corner of the room. The massive tank had a mysterious blue liquid in it and a small naked child, male judging by the little thing dangling between his legs.
Looking down at my body again, I examined the leads from the monitor and the needle sticking out of my left arm that led up to an I.V. bag. I sighed and looked over to the sleeping Sparky. She had a line of drool escaping the corner of her lips, and her pink and violet hair was a mess of tangles. “Aww,” I cooed quietly, “She’s so cute and peaceful when she’s asleep.” I grabbed my pillow and threw it at her head, hitting her with a dull thud and making her jump to wakefulness.
She looked around wildly, the line of drool still on her face, “Wha-What?!”
“Morning, sleepy head!” I exclaimed happily.
Sparky scowled at me and wiped the drool from her face. She looked like she was about to say something, then reconsidered before saying, “I’ll get Elaina.”
I watched her leave as I called after her, “Thanks! And what were you dreaming about?! Ice cream?!” She flipped me off as she walked away, not answering my questions. I waited patiently for a few minutes until Dr.Whisper and Sparky finally arrived.
“Oh, you’re awake,” Dr.Whisper groaned, clearly disappointed.
“Of course I am silly! You can’t kill death incarnate. Plus, the Dr.Whisper I knew could never let anybody die by accident. So, how did the operation go? And can I call you Elaina?” I said cheerily.
“No,” Dr.Whisper commanded immediately, “And the operations were a success. We’ve successfully fixed your leg and made upgrades. Apparently, as requested.”
I clapped my hands together in excitement, “Sparky! You made the upgrades I asked you to make! What did you do?! Tell me everything!”
Sparky sighed before beginning her explanation, “You asked for any cybernetic upgrade I could make to your body, and since we had to work on your legs anyways, I started there,” she walked over to my left leg and pointed to my shin, “The bones I kept as the same material, but I attached a blade made of the same material to your fibulas that sit between your fibula and tibia bones. Normal scans won’t notice them. I also added a nanite package that will improve healing throughout your body. What would take weeks of healing now only takes days. The only side effect would be an increased appetite.”
“Good to know. Anything else?”
“I also increased the strength of your leg muscles, so you should be able to run faster and lift more weight. Other than that, there’s nothing else,” Sparky added after a moment’s thought.
I nodded and asked, “Great, so that means I can get out of these casts now?”
“Yes, we’ll do that right now,” Dr.Whisper said, opening a drawer in a nearby medical cabinet and pulling out a cast. She didn’t wait for me to start cutting into the casts, freeing my legs within minutes. Once my legs were free, I rolled my ankles and sighed as I scratched them happily. Dr.Whisper disposed of the casts before saying, “You promised you’d tell me what you did to me. I demand an explanation.”
I looked at her sidelong and smiled, pulling the IV out of my arm and jumping out of bed, “Sparky, mind finding my clothes, please.”
“No,” Sparky said before walking away toward the massive tank in the corner.
I nodded and said, “Okay, Doc, where are my pants? This is really a conversation that needs to be taken seriously with pants,” after a moment’s consideration, I added, “And underwear.”
The doctor rolled her eyes, knelt to open the bottom drawer of the medical cabinet, and pulled out a folded pile of clothes, handing them to me. “Here, now start talking,” she demanded, running out of patience.
I pulled the black boxer briefs and pants from the clothes and began to put them on, “Your father was a genius. The last thing I remember him studying was muscle memory. Since muscle memory is stored in the Purkinje cells of the cerebellum, he was looking for a way to transfer those cells to people.” I finished putting on my pants and sat down, “His theory was if someone was an excellent close-combat fighter, then they could transfer their skills to someone else who would then add to those skills, making the overall muscle memories stronger. But he ran into two problems.”
Dr.Whisper nodded along and said, “The problem is the subjects would die if you remove enough cells from the brain. If the wrong cell is removed, they could lose their memory of breathing.”
“That was problem one,” I confirmed, “Problem two is compatibility. Put muscle memories into someone who already knows how to fight, and the cells war with each other for dominance, especially if the two people aren’t genetically compatible.”
“So, what did he do about that?” Dr.Whisper asked.
I shrugged, “No idea. Like I said, the last time I saw him, he was alive, and it was just a theory. But if I had to guess, he used nanites that mimic the cells but not all the cells. He probably isolated the cells in his cerebellum that relate to fighting. Leaving your cells that relate to medical knowledge alone. And since you two are genetically compatible, you were probably the only person who could use his tech.”
Dr.Whisper nodded and asked, “Then why do I feel jumpy all the time?”
“His fight or flight nature must’ve been in his muscle memories for fighting,” I hedged with another shrug. “Anyways, that’s all I know. Where’s everyone else?” I asked, grabbing my black shirt and taking off my nightgown.
Dr.Whisper was silent for a moment before saying, “Since you’ve been asleep for three days, by the way, Jin completed his experiment and temporarily killed himself.”
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I whirled around on her, my shirt half on as I yelled, “HE WHAT?!!”
The doctor stepped back in shock, “Temporarily!” she said again, then pointed to the tank, “His consciousness is in that body now.”
I sighed in relief and looked over to the tank, “Oh, okay. I’ll make fun of his small penis later. And I’m surprised I’ve been asleep for that long. I should’ve asked that first. What about everyone else?”
“Adjani and Oni have drunk half the liquor in the ship. And Alexandra has been working on dozens of small projects around the ship,” Dr.Whisper finished.
I paused a second as I put on my jacket, “What about Haru? Is she back yet?”
Dr.Whisper blinked a few times, “Who’s Haru?”
A sinking feeling filled my stomach, and I quickly put my socks and boots on before running out of the med bay. I quickly ran to the elevator and pressed the button for the top deck. I tapped my foot impatiently as the elevator moved, and the moment the doors opened enough for me to walk through, I ran through the halls to the bridge and quickly accessed the communication counsel.
Putting in the communication ID for Haru, I muttered, “Come on, come on. Pick up, pick up, pick up.” After a few seconds of ringing, I heard the line answered, “Finally!” I exclaimed, “I was getting worried you were in—”
“Trouble,” someone else interrupted me on the other end of the line. I froze and fell silent. The man who answered the call chuckled at my silence.
“Who is this!?” I demanded.
“Oh, you know exactly who I am,” His voice was smooth and charming, brimming with the confidence of a man who thought himself invincible. Someone I knew all too well.
“Captain Brineck of the Zero fleet,” I growled, not trying to hide my anger.
Captain Brineck chuckled again, “Good, I’m glad you remember me. Be a good little girl and activate the video feed. I’d love to see your face again.”
“I won’t give you the pleasure!” I snapped, “Where is Haru!?”
Captain Brineck ticked at me and said, “Now, now, Violet. You remember your manners, don’t you? Ask nicely.”
I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists, hating the words that came out of my mouth, “Please, tell me where Haru is?”
The captain chuckled, “She’s with me now. She’s here and alive. I’d show you proof, but you don’t want to use the camera.” I quickly activated my camera, and Captain Brineck’s revaulting face came on screen. He had a chiseled jawline with well-groomed stubbled growing on his face. His greasy shoulder-length hair slicked back to reveal a scar on the left side of his face that extended from his temple to his jugular. His ocean-green eyes hid his barely contained pleasure.
“There, the camera’s on. Show me, Haru!” I gritted my teeth again, forcing out the word, “Please.”
Captain Brineck laughed, “You are just as beautiful as the day I had you. We should do that again.”
A phantom feeling of someone grabbing my wrists came over me, and I fought back the image as I said, “Please, show me, Haru.”
With another chuckle, he turned the camera to face a chair before him. In it sat Haru, covered in her blood, tied to the chair with wires, and a gag in her mouth. Her face was swollen, and bruises, burns, and cuts covered her body. Her clothes were tattered and torn, barely covering any of her body. I could barely see her chest rising and falling as she took shallow breaths. “As you can see, she’s alive, and I’m willing to trade her back to you for the right price,” Captain Brineck said, turning the camera back to his self-satisfied smirk.
I clenched my fists and asked, “What do you want?”
“Why, you, of course!” he answered promptly, “As you know, I love collecting toys. And playing with them. The more they struggle, the more fun they are to me. And you are the best toy of all, especially with that multi-trillion credit bounty on your head that’s listed as wanting you dead.”
A shiver ran down my spine as memories I never wanted to remember came to the surface. The memory of my first meeting with Brineck. I felt my chest tighten and my stomach sink in on itself. I forced out a mumbled answer, “Fine. I’ll do it. Where do we meet?”
“Excellent!” Captain Brineck exclaimed, “I’ll send you the details. You have five hours to comply. See you soon. My little toy.” Then, I ended the communication. I fell to my knees and wrapped my arms around myself as a panic attack came over me, and I lost myself in the horrible memories.
***
My mind flashed back to when I was seven. My master sent me on my first mission. I was to kill an up-and-coming lieutenant in the Zero’s pirate fleet. “An easy enough job for someone like you,” my master had said, and I believed him.
The ship my master lent me was fast enough to get me to the fleet within a few hours, and with its stealth capabilities, I wouldn’t show up on scanners. I had all the information I needed and all the tools I would need as well. My target was stationed on a small frigate called ‘The Remover,’ and his name was Lieutenant Sam Brineck. I successfully docked my ship in a mostly uninhabited part of the frigate and boarded easily enough.
With step one of the mission finished, I snuck around the ship and mapped out every corridor, nook, and cranny of the ship, all while searching for the lieutenant. Within a day, I finally found him sitting in the mess hall, eating with his friends and crewmates. I crawled into the air vents and got above the mess hall to watch and wait.
Half an hour passed before he and three of his friends left, following him out. I maneuvered through the air vents to follow him through the ship. As his friends talked and laughed, I could hardly hear any of the lieutenant’s responses. I stopped at vent access as his friends walked by under me, and the lieutenant was gone from view. Before I could have a moment to panic, a blaster bolt tore through the vent and into my left knee. Before I had a chance to scream, a hand shot up through the access and grabbed my scalp, pulling me through and out of the vents, slamming me to the ground, followed by a swift kick to the gut that launched me into the nearest wall and knocking the air out of my lungs.
“Looky here, boys!” Lieutenant Brineck exclaimed, “We have a stowaway!”
I coughed and dry-heaved vile a second before the two other men grabbed my arms and pinned me against the wall. “And a young one as well,” one of the men holding me said, “Can’t be older than ten.”
The lieutenant bent over a few inches from my face and said, “Well, how old are you? And while you’re at it, who are you? It’s rude to go sneaking around a ship that isn’t yours without introducing yourself.”
I spat in his face and growled, “FUCK YOU! LET ME GO!”
The lieutenant recoiled and wiped the spit from his face as he shook his head in disappointment. “You heard her, boys,” he began, “Looks like we need to teach her some manners. Strip her!”
“NO!” I yelled as I struggled against them. The two men ignored me as they pulled out knives and began to cut away my clothes. They weren’t gentle about it either, leaving several long cuts on my skin.
Once my clothes were off, the lieutenant punched me, nearly knocking me out. As stars filled my vision, a hand grabbed my jaw and squeezed until it shattered, leaving my mouth hanging open. I screamed as I heard the crack resonate in my ears, and my vision cleared long enough to see what the lieutenant was going to do to me next. Pain shot through my body as he forced himself on me. I struggled against him, but after a moment, the two men got tired of watching and decided to participate, dislocating my arms and taking their chosen parts.
I suffered for several days in this manner, fighting as best I could and being only barely kept alive. The nightmare only ended when my master came to rescue me and destroyed the ship. He later told me that Lieutenant Brineck escaped, only receiving a long cut on the left side of his face. All throughout my childhood, he was the monster that haunted my dreams. And now I had a chance to finish my mission. My first mission.
My panic attack ended as I got my breathing under control, and I began to think clearly. He’s expecting me to play nice and come alone so Haru is safe. But I’m only going to go so far to play his games. With shakey legs, I stood and activated the comms to talk to the entire ship, “Oni, Alexandra, Dr.Whisper, Adjani, please come up to the bridge. We have a mission.” As I said this, I read the coordinates for the meet-up along with the instructions he sent me.
GC-5430
23.4162 N, 25.6628 E
Bring one civilian to transport your friend.
I gritted my teeth and swore, “Today, I end you.”