Chpt. 13) Retribution
Captain Brineck landed his transport vessel on the desert planet he specified his toy to land on alone with only a civilian to keep it company. His crew opened the loading ramp for him, and bright, blinding light blazed through the dark hatch, making him squint for a moment as his eyes adjusted, the rush of air causing his long, warn captain’s coat to billow about him. Once he could see again, the glaring face of his favorite toy caught his eye. Its perfect flawless features, narrowed yellow and blue eyes, and grinding white teeth. He couldn’t help but smile at the fun he would have with it.
His attention was temporarily drawn to the other toy next to his favorite. It, too, looked enticing, with its purple, blue, and pink hair and porcelain skin, and yet so weak. It wouldn’t last more than ten minutes with him. He smiled at his playthings as he exited the ship, waving for his men to follow. “Well, well, well!” he said, sounding as polite and charming as ever, “I never thought I’d see you in the flesh again. How is my favorite toy?”
The toy didn’t respond immediately as it took a deep breath and asked, “Where is Haru?!”
Brineck chuckled and waved at his men again. A minute later, they brought his broken toy out. Dragging it by the arms and tossing it to the ground. Brineck waved a hand over her, “Here you go. One broken toy for my favorite toy. Now come along.”
The toy gritted its teeth and growled, “She has a name.”
Brineck raised an eyebrow, “Oh, still have that fire I see. That’s good.” He then pulled a plasma pistol from the sleeve of his coat and pointed it at the broken toy. He fired one shot right next to its head, turning the sand where it hit to glass. “But remember,” he began, wiggling his free index finger from side to side, “I’m the one in charge around here.”
The toy lowered its head reluctantly and stepped forward with the weaker toy. His favorite didn’t stop at the broken toy and just kept walking toward his ship. Brineck smirked and mumbled, “Good little toy. Just do as you’re told.” As he said this, he noticed a small puff of sand right behind his favorite toy. It was odd, but he paid no mind to it as he boarded his ship. “Men secure her in the brig. Remove her clothes and make sure she doesn’t have any weapons. No one has her until I do,” he commanded and made his way to the pilot’s seat.
He quickly launched his ship and took off from the dust hole of a planet. The three suns always made it unbearably hot if he stayed too long. Once in space, he jumped to hyperspace and arrived at his fleet within moments. He never went far without his possessions, and his fleet was his greatest possession. Twenty frigates, three capital battle cruisers, hundreds of fighters of all different shapes and sizes, and one dreadnaught as his flagship. It was marvelous in his eyes.
“Welcome back, captain,” one of his men said over comms after he arrived from hyperspace.
“Prepare my collection vault for a new addition,” he ordered.
“Which case shall I be preparing, sir?”
Captain Brineck smirked, “Case number one.”
A moment of silence filled the line as his men processed the information before saying, “Y-yes, sir.” The captain brought his ship in for a landing on his flagship, and a broad smile grew on his lips as his sense of victory filled him. He had it. He got his favorite toy back. He began to laugh to himself, starting as a low rumble before growing into a loud booming laugh of victory.
Once he got himself under control, he made his way to the brig, which was nothing more than a wall of steel bars and a door, where he was surprised to see his men still alive, along with an unarmed, naked toy. She had grown since last he saw her and in a pleasant way as well. His smile met its glare as he said, “Well, you have grown since last we met. A few scares here and there, but nothing surprising. You truly are the perfect toy.”
His toy’s glare seemed to intensify as one of its hands shook slightly from clenching its fists so hard. “What now?” it demanded.
Brineck pulled a bloody and soiled cloth from a bag in the brig that had holes cut out for a toy’s head and arms. “Put this on, and we’ll go,” he commanded, tossing the cloth at her. His toy kept its glare on him as it picked up from the ground and slid the cloth over its head. Not resisting at all. His eyebrow twitched, and he clenched his fists as he commanded, “Open the cell.” His men did as he commanded, and he took three quick steps toward it before diving his fist into its stomach.
His toy doubled over and coughed for a second before looking up at him with a smirk, “What’s wrong, Master? Did I upset you?”
Brineck glared down at it as he commanded, “Take my toy to its case.” His men complied without question, dragging his toy away without a struggle. The sudden change in her attitude annoyed him, and he asked himself, “Why the sudden change?” he didn’t ponder it long as he left the ship and resolved himself to go to the bridge and manage his fleet a little before he had his fun.
***
Captain Brineck walked into his vault finally finished with his duties as captain a few hours later. The vault was a long rectangular room with his most valuable items within all preserved in special cases designed for each of them. He glanced around the room, admiring his collection on either wall. On his left were his toys that had skills or attributes that he found pleasurable. Most of them had broken, but a few still had a little fight left in them. He could tell cause a few of the toys would glare at him for a moment before turning away while the rest stared off into nothing, their eyes unseeing and blank. On his right were weapons, credits, and scraps from past battles that were especially memorable. At the end of the room, in the very center for all to see, was a display for his greatest prize. On either side of the display were an assortment of torture devices on a pair of tables, such as whips, pliers, torches, vices, and knives. His greatest prize hung in the display. Its arms and legs were tied to a steel slab with steel wire that dug into her wrists and ankles. Her head hung limply as she seemed to be sleeping.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Wake up, my little plaything. It’s time to have my fun,” Captain Brineck said, his smile growing wider as he waited for its response.
His toy chuckled as its head raised to look at him with a kind and almost loving smile, “Yes, Master. I can’t wait to make you happy.”
Brineck’s smile froze on his face as he heard its words, and he screwed his face up into a scowl as he growled, “Why? Why aren’t you working right?! This isn’t what’s supposed to happen!”
“What’s wrong, Master?” his toy asked cocking its head, “All I want is to bring you pleasure.”
“You’re doing it wrong!” Brineck yelled as he stomped to the right of the display and grabbed a cattle prod. Pressing the button a few times, he watched the electricity jump from one prong to the other before disappearing. He stomped over to his toy, pressed the prod against its thigh, and activated it. The prod shocked the toy, causing it to scream in pain as every muscle contracted.
Once Brineck stopped, his toy panted for breath and said, “Are you … having fun yet, Master?”
Brineck glared up at his petulant toy and shocked it again and again. Hearing its screams did please him if only a little. But its insistence on calling him Master got on his nerves. Toys were supposed to fight back and yell at him, not submit and ask if he’s happy. However, he soon grew tired of the cattle prod and grabbed a knife from the table. If he couldn’t make her fight back with a cattle prod, then he’ll carve her up until she fights back.
The lights in the vault went out, and red lights came on a second later. “What?!” Brineck exclaimed and glared around the room at the red lights.
“SIR!” One of Brineck’s men spoke over the ship’s intercom, “We lost all power! Auxiliary power is all we have left! We need you on the bridge!”
Grinding his teeth, Brineck growled, “I’m on my way,” then he turned to his toy, “When I come back, I’ll have my fun until you are ready to fight back like you’re supposed to.”
“I’ll see you soon, Master,” his toy said as he turned to leave, infuriating him more.
Brineck stormed out of his vault and into the hall. His men ran down the halls of his ship to the engine rooms and to electrical junctions to find the source of the loss of power. He soon reached the bridge, yelling, “Status report!”
“We still don’t know the cause of the loss of power, sir!” one of the twelve men he had on the bridge answered immediately, “We have narrowed it down to the reactor room in the engine bay.”
Brineck turned to the man and snapped, “Thanks for pointing out the obvious! Do you have anything useful to report!? Like the status of the rest of my fleet!”
The man shrieked back from his captain, yelling, and shook his head, “N-no Sir. The rest of the fleet is unaffected.”
“Good,” Captain Brineck said, “We need to put them on high alert until we are fixed.”
“Yes, Sir! Right away, Sir!” the man confirmed, going back to his council. The moment he sat down, the red lights went out again, and the bridge was filled with soft white light. Everyone on the bridge looked perplexed for a moment before the man said, “Sir, the engine room has found the problem. It says here that someone just flipped the manual emergency off switch.”
“They what?!” Brineck exclaimed before commanding, “SEND EVERYONE TO THE VAULT NOW!”
All the screens in the room went dark, and a moment later, a symbol of a purple and pink lighting bolt came on the screen for an instant before being replaced by a video feed of the vault. His favorite toy was gone. The steel restraints were cut clean through, leaving behind bits of molten metal. Then, the feed changed to just outside the vault, where several of his men lay dismembered and smoking.
The feed kept changing to camera after camera, showing a trail of corpses that led toward the bridge. Captain Brineck smiled, mumbling under his breath, “I knew my toy wouldn’t let me down.” He then commanded, “Evacuate the ship! Set the self-destruct!”
After a moment, one of his men said, “We can’t, Sir! Our commands are being overruled!”
“Communications is down, Sir! We can’t contact the fleet!”
“We don’t have control of the ship!”
TING! TING! TING! The sound of metal against metal resounded through the room from the door. Everyone on the bridge went silent. TING! TING! TING! Three knocks on the door sent shivers down the spines of everyone in the room. TING! TING! TING! The screens changed to show the cameras just outside the bridge. The hall was filled with black smoke, and the cameras couldn’t see through it to see anyone.
Then the door clicked as one of the locks came undone. Followed by another and another until the door hissed as it slowly opened to the wall of black smoke that eerily crept into the bridge unnaturally slowly. Captain Brineck’s men all drew their weapons when the door opened and pointed them at the smoke wall, ready to shoot whatever came out of it.
Two three-foot crescent blades of pale blue light lit up in the smoke, one blade curved to the left just off the ground and the other to the right six feet above that. The blades highlighted the silhouette of a person they couldn’t make out. The silhouette spoke in the voice of Brineck’s favorite toy, “Captain Brineck. Do you know my name?”
Brineck’s smile widened, “Why should I learn the name of a replaceable toy?”
“Because I’m not a toy,” the toy answered, stepping out of the smoke and into the light, now wearing the clothes it wore when Brineck picked it up, “I am Death.”
“Fire,” Brineck commanded, and his men complied without hesitation. The two blue blades of the weapon his toy wielded spun and cut through the bolts as though they were nothing but grass. As his men fired relentlessly at the toy, twelve blaster bolts shot out from the smoke and struck each of his men right between the eyes, killing them instantly.
Brineck recoiled as his men fell one after another and, in his panic, pulled out his pistol, aiming it at his toy. Before he could pull the trigger, it was on him, and sliced off his arm with the strange two-bladed weapon. He screamed in pain as he lost his arm and fell to one knee, clutching at his stump.
“What is my name?!” his toy demanded.
“Fuck you!” Brineck yelled and got a knee to his face for his trouble.
He fell backward to the ground, and the toy planted a boot on his chest, “What is my name!?”
Brineck looked up into its gold and blue eyes and didn’t see what he expected. Instead of anger or disdain, he saw unwavering resolve in its eyes … in her eyes. “Violet,” Brineck grumbled through his pain.
“Say it again,” she demanded, her voice cold, “Say my full name.”
Brineck scowled up at her and said, “Violet V. Vermillion. The Galactic Reaper.”
Violet pressed a button on her strange weapon with her thumb, and one of the blades disappeared as the other grew three more feet, now resembling a scythe with a long blade. “And don’t you dare forget it!” she said before swinging the blade in one clean movement, removing Brineck’s head. “I am death incarnate. I decide who lives and who dies to keep the balance. You are meant to day by my hands and no other,” was the last thing he heard before his vision went dark and he passed into oblivion.
***