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Giftie for NightingaleRB

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Stardate 07.01.2115
   The Engine Shafts of the Destroyer ‘Malcontent II’


  Her breathing was shallow, distant, quiet. Pirates had boarded the Destroyer nearly two days ago, and only one more remained. This last pirate was a tough one, as proved by more than a dozen dead UNE soldiers. He must have been craftier than she initially thought; he even managed to nail the Sergeant.
  And now it was her job to hunt this guy down and finish him off. On the outside, she boasted that it would be easy enough. On the inside she felt a warm, fresh fear as knowledge that she can die at any second kept surfacing and gnawing at the back of her head.
  Only a few people were ever allowed to call her by her first name: Rachel. Everyone else was forced (sometimes with physical force on her part) to call her Nightingale. The name itself is something of an irony that she never bothers to explain.
  She shifted slightly in the dimly lit walkways of the engine shafts, working to stay in the shadows. Her trained eyes kept watch for her unseen enemy, darting back and forth swiftly, taking in every detail. For one fleeting second she thought she saw her foe and she quickly raised her rifle. Another flicker of light revealed it to be nothing more than rope left over by some engineer. She closed her eyes, sighed deeply, then reopened them and rounded another corner.
  Still nothing. This is becoming tedious, she thought to herself. She looked below her section of walkway to the bottom of the engine shaft. It was terribly cluttered, hardly any room to walk. It was about twenty feet down at its highest point, and she had guessed that the pirate would be hiding there. As for how much ammo he had left, she could only speculate.
  She gauged the distance from the walkway to the peak of the clutter, guessing it would be a fifteen-foot drop. And, of course, once down she would have only her grapple to get her back up. This thought lasted only a second before she leaped down to one of the peaks.
  She landed firmly enough, one foot and one knee on solid ‘ground’. It was the exact moment the pirate was waiting for.
  Tens of bolts of laser fire blasted past her as she rolled, reacting to the sounds of blaster fire. Her reaction was too quick, however, as she found herself tumbling down the peak and onto the metal floor. The deep blue glow of the engine coolant bathed the majority of the lower sections, leaving very little space to hide. She found this to be good as well as bad.
  She crawled over to a box nearer to the pirate, trying to get a view of her enemy. There he was, aiming his pistol for her head. She dove once more, dodging another flash of red fire. She readied her rifle once more and leaped upward, revealing the rifle and fired.
  Her searing bolt of energy had just barely missed the pirate, who rolled behind a huge metal container holding what she guessed was fuel. His footsteps hadn’t stopped, however. Her hearing was much too good for him to conceal his hurried steps. She heard him stumble and fall for a split second before his footsteps returned to normal.
  She had him on the run.
  She broke out into a full run, chasing after him. She rounded the container he was hiding behind before finding herself fighting for words. It was a dead-end.
  She looked around for any possible route around the mess and found none.
  “This ain’t right…” she said quietly to herself. “What in God’s name am I dealing with here?”
  “I am a manifestation of your worst nightmares, Rachel,” came a voice from nowhere and yet somewhere. Something dark flew past her back and she swiftly spun around to catch sight of it, missing it by a second. “You know how weak you truly are, you miserable slug.”
  “Weak? Hardly.” Her response was firm enough, even though she knew it was only to keep her mind straight.
  “You know what goes bump in the night, young one?”
  “Vehicles, mostly. The darn things can’t seem to watch where they’re going.” Another shadow bolted around her once before shooting off into nothingness.
  “You have a sense of humor. That is indeed priceless. Especially when your death is so near.”
  “Death? I have no intention of dying just yet.” More shadows wisped through the edges of her sight.
  “We are your worst nightmare. We are the manifestation of all that is corrupt and evil.”
  “And that is why you’ll die,” she yelled into the emptiness that began to surround her.
  Then, suddenly, voices rang out through the intercom. No, not voices; screams. Several of them. Two rang out more than any others: the screams of her mother and father. Her eyes flew wide open.
  “Mom?! Dad?!”
  “We are the manifestation of all that is corrupt and evil,” the shadow-thing repeated as it swirled around her. “We shall consume all who oppose us. There will be no victory for the beings of the Light.”
  More voices screamed through the intercom. Her head was spinning wildly now. What had she gotten herself into?
  The shadows grew closer, sapping away her strength as her parents’ screams echoed throughout the engine shafts.
  Then something changed. The voices on the intercom. Her helplessness remained for only moments after the change in the intercom. She closed her eyes and willed her strength back.
  More screaming through the intercom. Only now the screams were a warm hope. No longer were they screams of the dying.
  “He’s behind you, girl!” She whirled around to see a very real and very scared pirate. She raised her rifle before he could so much as grab his pistol.
  “Die, you twisted son of a bitch!” She yanked on the trigger and filled the pirate’s head full of burning plasma, blowing out half of his skull. He fell to the floor, bleeding profusely.
  She looked up at the intercom speaker and the camera located nearby and waved. She quickly made her way to the walkways once again and began the half-hour trek to the Bridge.

*****

  As soon as the Bridge doors opened her friends, all of whom were ecstatic to see her, greeted her wildly. She received many pats on the back and handshakes. Then, of course, the Fleet Admiral came flying into the room as well and tackled her.
  “You scared the CRAP outta me, Rach,” cried the Admiral, squeezing her tightly.
  “Hey, I’m sorry about that one, Ken,” she replied, shoving Ken off and climbing to her feet, “but you know my job.”
  “I know it, but I don’t have to agree with it,” he replied, a smile still plastered on his face. “What was going on down there?”
  “He was playing with my mind, Ken.”
  “I saw THAT much. Not many people can do that at will. But what did you SEE?”
  “…I’d much rather not talk about that,” she said, thinking about the shadows. Only she knew what those shadows really were. They were her worst nightmares, after all. Only she knows her own worst nightmares.
  “I see.”
  “You know, if it wasn’t for you guys—“
  “Hold it right there, Rach. You got through by YOUR strength alone.”
  “No, Ken, you don’t get it. That was one hell of a rough time for me. What I saw—“ she stopped, choking on something in her throat. She fought it and continued a bit quieter. “What I saw won’t leave my mind all that easily. But I heard you and everyone else on that intercom. The voices of my friends.”
  “Yes?” Ken allowed himself a gentle smile, almost chuckling.
  “Those voices were the light in that darkness down in that Hell.”
  “I’m glad we could be of service!” Ken bowed low as he finished. Rachel quickly hugged Ken, dragging two more friends of hers into the group hug.
  “Thanks for being there when I needed you guys.”
  “That’s what we’re here for, Rach,” Ken said. “Don’t you ever forget that. It’s OUR job to pull you through your tough times.” Ken then turned to everyone else occupying the Bridge. The rest of her friends. “Isn’t that right, fellas?”
  “Damn straight!” Came the reply from everyone at once. Ken then turned to face Rachel and smiled triumphantly as she could only look on, a genuine smile locked onto her face.
Yup, the birthday gift is done. :3

Long story short: this has meaning to it. In other words, it's a story with a lesson.

Love ya, Rach!
© 2006 - 2024 Vergial
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NightingaleRB's avatar
EEEEEEEEEE. "Vehicles, mostly." <3 This is great, Ken! I love the way you describe the sounds and scenery. And the Power Of Friendship bit at the end rocks. |D THANK CHUUUU! :+fav: