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Thinking she was in the clear to hit the lock for the hall, she started for the interior door, only to be sucked back out into space. The cold violent wrapping of nothingness pulling her out by the sudden negative pressure flooding inward.
Flying outward, kicking out her feet and hitting the jets, she pushed back towards the side of the ship. A swarm of drones came out of nowhere, surrounding her next to the lock where she landed. A quick glance backwards and…
“I’ll teach you to cut holes in my ship!” She screeched the words while waving a fist at the drones. Knowing how unlikely it was he’d get the message from only that, she included a rather coarse gesture. She hoped they were recording this, capturing her intended vulgarity.
A team of drones with laser cutters huddled outside the newly done hole where she’d been ejected. Two shield emitter drones on either side corrected the atmosphere while four cutters had been used to make the hole; basically a perfect trap. Which meant it was a good thing she’d not yet taken off her environmental suit.
“Child,” she added to her tirade. Maybe Quinn had been playing fair before because he hadn’t actually been angry with her. Maybe this time she had hurt him, and he lashed out like the child she labeled him as, inarguably overreacting in the extreme. It showed why Toke had given up on trying to get to know Quinn in any capacity. He may have been a pacifist, but he was a pacifist with an army of drones.
She returned to the Eikos mechanic station. The same grimy worker attempted to rise out of his seat. He got the same treatment he had the first time. Ripped two stun guns off of the wall, inserting one into the side loops, she hit up the security panel next. Counting on the fact that his drones weren’t specifically shielded against an EMP, she hoped it would put them out of service until he could replace the internal chargers. But betting on his ability to quickly adapt, she’d bring true projectiles. Kira hit a switch on the one still out and ejected a magazine out the bottom. Previously empty, she took dummy projectiles loading them in one by one, each a heavy rubber-like ball. A quick adjustment to the setting and the rifling in the barrel clicked into place.
Her aim would have to be very exact to not cause the sort of damage one wished to avoid in space. Toke made sure she’d not been brought up to be anything but excellent at meeting expectations in all fields. Firing a phaser took very little skill, firing ammunition with accuracy took true sighting.
He’d caught her off guard once, she wouldn’t let him do it again. Piloting towards one of the farthest entrances, betting he’d assume she’d go for the next one on the line, she mentally continued her tirade. Activating the mag boots on the outside, she flung open the hatch, deactivated the boots, and went through like a submarine sailor tossing herself feet first until she plopped on the ground in the artificial gravity.
Her left side held the modified bullets, her right hand scooped the handle of the regular phaser, setting the stun into place and taking a defensive posture, she proceeded. She did not dare to deactivate her suit. Not trusting Quinn, pacifist or not, enough to think he’d care if she could breathe or not. This time, she made it out of the decompression room.
The same setup as before approached her. Laser cutters and shield emitters, both the octopus-like drones that floated with the specific attachments on their long appendages. A ball joint inside each one allowed them to move almost organically, except for the fact they could twist any section in a 360 degree movement.
Ducking behind a ballast, it was no contest as she let loose a few shots. Each drone deactivated. The satisfying thunk of metal on metal as they collapsed made her smile. She stepped proudly over them until shell-shocked into silence the shield emitters suddenly had her by her arms, putting her in a crucifixion-like position, locking them out thrusting her bodily out of the ship again.
You should return to the Eikos.
“Like hell I will.”
Kira, be reasonable, what are you even going to do if you can get to him?
“I don’t know yet, but I’ll figure it out.”
Blowing a puff of air to push away a stray piece of hair, it remained locked in place, unshifting because of the sleek design of the emitter she wore. A few more quick blows followed out of irritation. Retreating to the Eikos for a second to rethink her plan, Watson remained blissfully quiet while she did so.
She considered destroying his drones. The action felt appropriate. The complete calm that settled over her as she enacted a new plan was… well, a bad sign. Grabbing tools from a welding crew- they’d almost refused to lend them to her, but the look she gave them of pure determination inspired second thoughts. It instilled a terror by design almost like she’d touched them physically.
Shoving back into space, she grumbled, and Watson chose only to give a warning about the equipment she utilized.
She didn’t even make it to the ship.
The drones flocked out the moment she came close enough for a life sign to be detected drifting toward the Callistar that couldn’t be on the Eikos. They zipped out in a swarm. She fired off a few shots but, especially in space where she wasn’t particularly maneuverable, she wasn’t able to stop them before eight got into formation and created a shield cube. Quinn literally put her in a box.
Then, her communicator toggled on like Watson meant to talk to her, but it was Quinn’s voice. The man sounded as angry as she felt.
“What, the buggering fek, is wrong with you? I try to be nice and you throw it in my face and laugh at me. Now, you are distracting me from my work, so you can what? Prove to me you can get aboard the ship? Let me guess, because it’s your ship? Well, I don’t give a shite. Just leave me the fek alone. Let me finish my work, and I’ll just stay in my fekking room until you find my planet and it will all be over. You never have to see me again. So please just leave me the hell alone.”
Towards the end of his impassioned speech, she could hear the anger fading to hurt as he lost his accent too.. He just sounded tired, depressed, and done with everything.
“I made one joke at your expense and you’ve decided to absolutely lock me out?” Talking back she wasn’t even sure he was still on the line. “Are you so absolutely unable to understand even the smallest nuances of conversation with others that you couldn’t tell it was friendly banter?”
She managed to be civil enough to not raise her voice the octave it wanted to go to. But it felt like admonishing a toddler that taking someone else’s things was wrong. If he understood others well enough, he would have heard the tension in her voice, the tightness, the heavy breath that came as she kept control of herself. Banging her fist against one of his drones, she turned off the communicator for just a moment to continue her barrage of words that he definitely would not understand.
Watson still had access- she didn’t keep him out- and he came across with a soft Kira you should just let this one be.
“Shove it Watson.” Lashing out at him, even if it wasn’t his fault, was unfair. She had no control of the knee jerk reaction. She’d feel bad for it later.
Quinn clicked back on in a voice unknown to her, the inflections were gone, the emotions were gone. It sounded like she was talking to an A.I. that lacked a personality module. The only reason she knew it was Quinn was the smoothness of his voice. Even the best A.I. had some processing in their voice without a module. “I was raised in a lab. Anyone that was too friendly with me was fired. Paradigm was worried interpersonal connections would inhibit my growth as an asset. I was not a person. I was an experiment.
“So no, I don’t understand the subtle nuance, as you call it. Such things were considered unnecessary to my directives. However, people have proven to be a constant disappointment to me, so I do not feel particularly bothered by this. I made a sincere effort, and you mocked me for it. I would like to be left alone, Captain Starling. Please respect my decision. As previously stated, once the ship is complete, you can have full access back. I will remain in my room until you find me a suitable planet and our business will be completed permanently. I do not think asking you to find other lodgings while I work is an unreasonable request. If you continue to persist, I will break my deal with Toke and find someone more willing to be reasonable.”
“Stars Quinn.” Relaxing her hand against the drone she just touched, Kira spread her fingers wide arching the tops of each one back until the tips drew down. Softly, she said, “Just don’t do anything to Watson’s systems. Please.”
