fanfic_name = Gotterdammerung

chapter = Chapter XVII

author = Cicero_Phelps

dedicate = Jo, Carla, GPPR, and the rest of the original forum crew

Rating = O18

Type = Terror

fanfic = Chapter XVII

Vanessa counted in her head, knowing that the charges Miriya had set would only give them a maximum of ten minutes to exit the base. The prison cell was just barely fifty feet down the hall, around the corner from where she stood, and there were three guards standing in front of it, one on either side of the door, and one at the monitoring station next to it. Suddenly, she heard an intruder alert posted for the command section. She figured Miriya had to have been found by then.

Vanessa pulled the pin on a flashbang grenade, rolled it down the hallway, and grabbed her FMG for action. The explosion blinded the guards, and she charged around the corner firing wildly, striking the two exposed guards in the groin. The one monitoring the computers ran around the corner, firing his pistol wildly. Two of his three shots went wild, but the third struck Vanessa in her right thigh, hobbling her. She fired a final burst, catching the man full in the chest, dropping him for the count.

As the guard’s body hit the deck, she ran forward at as close to full tilt as she could manage, grabbing the keys to the cell. She fumbled them in her anxiety, finally managing to get the door open on the third attempt.

Lisa’s troops finally herded the invaders back into the Engine Room, after they broke out briefly into the hallway. A handful even managed to get to the elevator, only to be greeted with gunfire from reinforcements arriving on the scene of battle. She looked around the room, greatly aware of the spatters of blood everywhere, and surveyed the damage. Several consoles were toppled, loose wires spraying sparks every which way, and the wall was still collapsed over one of her dead soldiers.

One of the junior officers, a Sergeant O’Leary by his nameplate, walked over to the main reactor, gazing intently on a small black box that wasn’t there previously. “Captain Hayes, Ma’am, I think we have a bomb on this thing.”

“All around the mulberry bush, the monkey chased the weasel-“ Miriya sang, half deluded by pain, fully aware of the hand that was in full swing to smack her again.

Her cheek turned bright red from another huge welt as her tormentor slapped her across the face. Her left eye was swollen shut, a victim of merciless torment to her body. She felt barely alive, awash in sea of pain; in addition to facial abrasions, she had a broken arm, a broken leg, and a few fractured ribs. “How many are with you? How did you get in here?”

She smiled calmly, spitting blood from between her broken teeth and jaw, and ground out, “Miriya Parino Sterling, Captain, 046812603.”

“You’re very impressive, alien scum. Most of my guests here cannot endure five seconds of my hospitality, not to mention five minutes. Now, tell me, who did you bring with you?”

Miriya looked at the man curiously, like he was artwork she couldn’t fathom. “Miriya Parino Ster-,”

“Insolent bitch,” cried the interrogator, hauling back and punching her, full fist, in the face. “You’ve got nothing to gain from stalling. We’re searching for your allies as I speak. So, in the end, you will all die together. Your body will be just that much bloodier when you end up there.”

Miriya coughed up a lungful of blood, spraying it all over the interrogator’s jacket. She couldn’t see much beyond him, her vision was hazy, and the room was starting to swirl. If only she could remain focused-

Maximillian, my love, forgive me.

*************

Claudia struggled mightily to stand up, but ended up needing Kim and Sammie to lend her a hand. They were all overjoyed to see Vanessa again, and she had to quiet the younger ones down to get them moving again.

Vanessa’s first step was to scrounge the dead soldiers for weapons. The girls removed Beryl rifles, three clips of ammunition each, and a MOG, with one clip of normal rounds, one clip of exploding rounds, and one clip of netting rounds each. They pocketed each clip around their bodies, and, once they made sure that they hadn’t missed anything, the newly freed captives entered the elevator back to the surface. Vanessa hung behind just long enough to plant a timed charge in the cell, and another one at the computer post that the third guard had been at. Then, they took the elevator back to the entry point.

Lisa’s blood ran cold when she heard the sergeant’s voice. She dropped everything else she was doing, and took charge of the situation.

“Any Demolitions experts in here,” she called out. One or two raised hands appeared in the crowd. “Good, step forward, we need you. Everyone else, get out of here and seal the door.”

The two explosives experts came to the front, and the rest retreated as ordered. “So, can you stop this thing,” Lisa asked them.

“Nobody breathe, nobody move, and it ought to be simple,” came one specialists’ voice. “This thing is movement-sensitive, heat-igniting, and highly potent. In other words, if we rip it off, it goes off, if the reactor warms up above a certain temperature, it goes off, and no matter where we are standing, if we’re anywhere near it, we’re history.”

The second specialist scanned the surface of the bomb, probing with his eyes for any points of entry. “Looks like we’ll have to bombard this thing with X-rays to get it neutralized.”

The first tech grabbed an X-ray sensor and started at the control panel on the lower edge of the device. He flicked the scanner on the lowest setting and started a systematic, line-by-line sweep of the device. The green light flickered, then beeped steadily as it worked its magic on the destructive device.

Lisa sweated nervously as she watched the technicians work. She mentally reviewed everything in her life, from childhood to adulthood and everything in between. She could see the sweat forming on the brows of the technicians as they attempted to defuse it, knowing that their thoughts, if they failed, were likely along similar lines…

“Now, are you going to play ball, or are you going to resist,” asked the interrogator, flexing his fist, as she stopped coughing. She nodded her compliance as he cackled with glee.

“Now, again, how many people came with you?”

“One,” she answered, shifting her body so her ribcage wouldn’t hurt as badly as it did.

“Where did they go to? Where are they now, to save you from your pathetic failure?”

Miriya looked at the man, so bland, so uninteresting, so utterly inconsequential, and, grinning through bloody teeth, spat out, “Go to hell.”

The man didn’t grin, he didn’t flinch. He didn’t react emotionally. He just looked at her thoughtfully, and remarked, “You can’t hold out forever, you know.”

“I don’t need to,” she countered. “I just need to hold out a few more minutes.”

The man’s look of superiority slipped, and he felt pangs of alarm. “What does that mean?”

She looked at him through pain filled eyes, as the explosives started going off. She cackled at her tormentor, “You’ll find out soon enough.”

The man grabbed at her throat, starting to strangle her into submission. She gagged a bit, then stopped struggling and accepted her fate calmly; losing herself in memories of happier times, better places, she relaxed, embracing the coming transition. She felt her tormentor snap her neck, with the sound of explosions filling her ears and brain.

As she died, her final thought was, “I love you, Max.”

AN: Sorry it turned out like this...but please R/R. I love critiques :)

State = Continuará/To Be Continue

feedback = Sí/Yes

email = Lightsaber01ATHotmail.com