by L. Fergus
The other Angels brandished their weapons. Raptor transformed into a raptor and let out a low, menacing whistle. An alarm sounded.
“I’m trying to access the computer,” said Kita to Defiance, “but they’ve got some kind of wrapper program installed.”
“Get me back my ship,” snarled Defiance. Her hand formed into an ice ax, and she slammed it into the skull of the trapped Verisom.
“Kita!” yelled Snowy.
“What? I didn’t do it.”
“Control her.”
“I’m not going to control anybody. It’s Casey’s ship, and she’s got a right to fight for it.”
“I’ll kill all of these alien vermin,” said Defiance angrily. She hurled a pair of large ice balls toward the crew. The balls exploded showering them with deadly ice fragments.
“Stop!” yelled Sahara. She had both her daggers out as she faced Defiance.
“Your girlfriend against mine?” Kita purred to Snowy. “I know who I’m taking.”
“Stop this,” said Snowy.
“Why? My girl’s in the right. It’s her ship that’s been stolen. I don’t know what your girl is trying to do, other than get herself killed.”
“She’s trying to protect your alliance with Collector.”
“She should let me worry about that.”
“What do you want, you stupid tabby?” goaded Defiance. “You want to join the rest of these deplorable degenerates? I’ll have your hide as a throw rug.”
Sahara snarled and leaped at Defiance.
“Sahara!” cried Snowy.
From the side Babydoll struck Sahara, sending the Djinn sideways. Babydoll expanded from a ball into a whirling roundhouse kick, striking Sahara repeatedly, then exploded into an uppercut punch hitting Sahara and driving her into the ceiling. Babydoll grabbed Sahara, performed a flip, and kicked Sahara into the deck.
“What the hell, Kita! She’s not reinforced like an Angel,” screamed Snowy.
“She should have thought of that before tangling with one that has bodyguards.”
“If she’s injured it’s your fault.”
“With a beating like that you better hope she’s not dead.”
Snowy’s eyes went wide as Zentix rushed to Sahara’s side.
“What are we going to do about my ship?” said Defiance waving her arm at Enterprise.
“We’ll get it figured out,” said Kita calmly. “We’ll need to go to the server room and manually uninstall their program. It can’t be that sophisticated.”
“What should we do with the rest of the crew?” said Phoenix.
“Kill them. They know way too much about this ship.”
Phoenix burst into flame and flung a pair of fireballs at a pair of crewmembers hiding behind a desk. With glee, some of the other Angels joined in the hunt.
“Kita! You bitch. She’s not breathing,” screamed Snowy. “What are you doing?” she cried when she heard the first screams of the crew.
“They know too much,” said Kita.
“I won’t let you slaughter them.”
“Leaf, Tina, see what you can do for Sahara,” Kita said to the high angels. “Then you’re going to have to defeat all of us,” said Kita to Snowy.
“I just need to beat you!”
“Bring it, pretty kitty. But I won’t lose.”
Snowy snarled and launched herself at Kita. Kita drew her swords and met Snowy in the air, swords rung as they struck claws. Snowy kicked with the claws on her back feet. Kita let them slash her lightly across her thigh, before kicking Snowy in the chest, sending her backward. Kita twirled, hitting Snowy with the back of her fist repeatedly, driving Snowy into the deck. Kita backflipped and struck Snowy in the jaw with her heel. Snowy somersaulted and landed hard on the red friction carpet covering the deck.
Snowy rolled backward, planted her feet and leaped at Kita. Raising her swords, Kita blocked Snowy’s claws and pushed them aside. She corkscrewed and slashed Snowy across the back. Snowy swung with her claws. Kita ducked and struck Snowy’s upper arm as it went by. Kita spun, struck with her swords, leaving six long gashes up Snowy’s back. Kita dropped to the ground and swept with her leg, kicking Snowy’s legs out from under her. Snowy landed on her back.
Kita pounced and thrust her swords toward Snowy’s shoulders. Snowy caught Kita by the forearms and pushed back. Snowy’s face contorted as she strained to keep the swords out of her flesh. Kita gritted her teeth and pushed, forcing the tips of her swords into Snowy’s shoulders. Snowy let out a scream. The fur around the swords turned bright red. Snowy kicked up with her back feet. Kita shifted and blocked, knocking Snowy’s legs aside while pushing Dead and Buried deeper into Snowy’s shoulders.
Snowy roared and thrust her claws into Kita’s sides. “Don’t make me do it,” Snowy yelled.
“Go ahead and try it,” said Kita as she pushed down harder with her swords.
“I warned you,” said Snowy. She screamed as she released a bolt of lightning into Kita.
Kita’s eyes rolled into the back of her head and then closed. When she opened them, she was smiling. She let out a maniacal laugh. “Do you really think that’s going to hurt me?”
Snowy’s eyes went wide in surprise. “But…”
“Like everyone, you underestimate me!” Kita let go of her swords and grabbed Snowy’s wrists. She pulled Snowy’s crackling claws out of her and shoved them into Snowy’s sides. Kita stood up, pulling Snowy to her feet. Kita grabbed Snowy by the throat, lifted her above her, and turned her sideways.
“Wait!” screamed Snowy. “No—”
Kita dropped, and Snowy fell, her back landing across Kita’s knee. There was a loud crack followed by a few pops. Kita let Snowy go, and she slid off and landed on the floor, her eyes wide with shock and pain.
Kita stood up and recovered her swords. She looked down at Snowy’s broken body. “You’re free to change masters at any time, just remember I’m the greatest.”
“Ouch, that looks like it hurts,” said Babydoll as she landed next to Kita.
Zentix left Sahara’s side and dashed next to Snowy’s. “What have you done to her?” demanded Zentix as she examined Snowy’s twisted and broken back.
Kita glowered. “I reminded her I will only be pushed so far. I am no one’s servant, and no one will tell me what to do.”
“Painful lesson,” said Babydoll.
“It’s more than a lesson of pain.”
Babydoll nodded. “I learned the one about double-crossing you a long time ago. I don’t need a reminder. I’m still scared of you.”
“I don’t want you scared of me.”
“I still love you. Don’t worry.”
“You’re my best friend, Kerri. That’ll never change unless you want it to.”
Babydoll held up her hands. “I’m not planning on going the way of Galina.”
“Hey, they’re all dead,” yelled Phoenix from across the bridge.
“Thank you, sweet pea. Leaf, anything?”
“She‘s breathing again. I think it would be better if Nell took a look at her.”
“Nell, will you?”
“Sure, why not,” said Anthrax, her shark’s teeth covered in orange blood.
“Denver, come with Casey and me. We’re going to the main computer room. Jess and Kerri! Take two groups, free the human crew, and task them with getting rid of the Tet crew. Amanda and Sheppard should have the engine room secured by now. I want life support, and the weapons lockers secured. Nell, Tina, Leaf, see what you can do for Collector’s agents.”
“You got it,” said Valor as she got down from the holograph table. She had been talking with Starlight and the other Angels that hadn’t joined in the slaughter.
“I guess I still remember my way around the ship,” said Babydoll.
Kita nodded and let them divide the remaining Angels.
“Shall we go get your ship back?” Kita said to Defiance.
Defiance gave Kita a dirty look. “Yes. It took you long enough.”
“You’ll get yours. I promise.”
“The ship’s server room is through here,” said Valentine as she led Kita and Defiance into Enterprise’s Combat Information Center.
“Did you serve on Enterprise?” said Defiance.
Valentine smiled. “No, but my father served in the Shadow Fleet before being sold to Gjord Industries.”
“Sold?” Defiance said raising an eyebrow.
Kita chuckled. “Denver’s father was the AI Omega.”
“I know sexbots are realistic, but, ah…I know with Kita there has to be a trick.”
Kita raised her hands. “I had nothing to do with it. I told her to run and hide. Next thing I know she’s coming out fighting with a pair of wings.”
Valentine nodded. “Father used everything he learned from Kita about making Angels and remade my body, including adding a computer in my head. Unlike Kita’s computer, which just augments her brain, mine is fully integrated. My father copied most of what he’d learned to me.”
“How did Omega know how to do this?” said Defiance. “AIs can’t perform functions outside their programming.”
“Omega became sentient on the journey to colonize,” said Kita. “To protect himself, Omega rewrote the colony ship’s stored human genome so if you had all the right genes you would seek him out. I was the lucky one to find Omega.”
“So if it weren’t for Omega I wouldn’t have you?” said Defiance.
Kita shrugged. “Pretty much.”
“I will have to hunt down the creators of Omega and thank them.”
“Who you should thank is Communications Officer Dave Berlin,” said Valentine. “He’s the one that unleashed the virus on Omega that made him sentient.”
“Hopefully Dave is buried in a shallow grave somewhere,” grumbled Kita. Berlin became Kita’s nemesis Angus, a biomechanical AI driven to rule the planet. He could inhabit both humans and computers. When Angus found Kita, he planned to take over her mind and find Omega for himself.
“We don’t know that for sure,” said Valentine. “The probability that we destroyed the last copy of him is low.”
“Just what I don’t want to think about,” Kita said with a sigh.
Defiance opened the door to the server room. It contained rows of computers and a terminal in the back. The Angels crowded around the terminal. The screen’s display was in Diamock.
“I’m surprised they don’t have someone down here,” grunted Defiance.
“I don’t think they completely understand how the ship works,” said Kita as she typed in a password. “They know enough to be dangerous. Hmmm, didn’t work.” She knelt and took off the access panel to the terminal to reveal several jacks and ports. Placing her finger over a port, small metal fibers extended from her finger and let her connect.
The screen on the terminal blinked, and parts changed. The screen turned green and then displayed ACCESS GRANTED in Diamock.
“We’re in,” said Kita. “Let see how to undo what they did.”
Kita flipped through several screens and stopped on the GUI protocols. “Here we go…and uninstall…click ok…and we should be back to Common.”
“Uhm, why did a counter appear in the bottom corner,” said Defiance.
“Huh?” Kita clicked on it making the counter bigger. “That didn’t help.”
“We’ve got fifty-five seconds to figure it out,” said Defiance.
“Let me,” said Valentine.
Kita made a face, but let her take control. Valentine knelt and interfaced with the terminal. The terminal’s screen flashed through images of controls as she searched.
“Ok, found it. Tracing it now,” said Valentine. “Following…following…it’s in the engine room.”
“Rene! Amanda! Are you in the engine room?” called Kita.
“Yes, we’re cleaning it now. They’re playing hide and seek,” said Sheppard.
“Quit playing with them and search for a bomb.”
“A bomb?” said Stormy.
“What does it look like?” retorted Sheppard.
“I don’t know,” said Kita. “Anything out of the ordinary.”
“With all the SLIP drive equipment in here, it could be hiding in plain sight.”
“Well hurry. We only have thirty-five seconds.”
“Kita! That’s not enough time!”
“I know, just search. It can’t be well hidden. We’re trying to deactivate it from this end. How’s it going, Denver?”
“It’s somewhere in sector three of the engine room, and that’s where the command signal ends.”
“I know where that is,” cried Stormy. “It’s the Political Bureau section.”
Kita bit her lip. She had to warn the others, but she wasn’t sure everyone could be saved. She put a call out to the other gods. “Everyone, listen up, there is a bomb on the ship. In fifteen seconds, I’m going to need you to transform into your god form and get out. Try and save the others.”
“We can’t carry them as if we were clouds,” said Panther.
“We could if we teleported them somewhere,” said Tina.
“You? Break the rules?” scoffed Kamikaze.
“I’d try and take everyone here, not just Angels.”
“They’re the ones that planted the damn bomb,” Kita said grumpily.
“I be teleporten’ the two with me,” said Raptor.
“I’ll go to the engine room and get Sheppard and Amanda,” said Kita. “Denver, can you get Casey?”
“Wait! I’ve almost got it,” said Valentine.
“We’ve got seven seconds,” warned Kita.
“I know— I know…I think…I got it.”
“Still counting,” said Kita. “Everyone, go!”
“I found it!” cried Stormy. “There’s a bunch of wires out the back. Which one do I pull?”
“There’s no time,” said Kita. “I’m coming to get you.”
“We can’t abandon the ship,” yelled Sheppard.
“We don’t have a choice. I—”
“Kita,” said Valentine, “the countdown has stopped.”
“What happened? Are you sure?”
“Yeah—”
“I ripped out all the wires,” said Stormy. “I figured that would stop it.”
“Is that in the field manual, lieutenant?” said Sheppard with a laugh and a sigh.
“Ah, no. I believe you Marines call it field expedient.”
“Ok everybody, the danger’s passed. Continue as before,” ordered Kita. “How’s the computer, Denver?”
“I’m doing a soft reboot now to make sure we got rid of their software.”
“Ok. I’m going to check in with the others.” Kita called Babydoll. “Kerri, how are you girls doing?”
“We ran into a pair of Gronks.”
“Damn, they must be desperate if they're bringing those things aboard. Do you need help?”
“No, we took care of them.”
“Everyone ok?”
“Besides my wounded pride, everyone’s fine.”
“I need to warn Jess. Her group doesn’t have as much firepower.”
“I thought she was a walking arsenal.”
“I need to tell her to make sure she has the right munitions loaded.”
“Tell me what?” said Valor.
“There are Gronks aboard the ship,” said Kita.
“Oh, hell. I hate those teenage mutant snapping turtles. I’ll bust out my Gronk can openers.”
“Tell the other girls to be careful if you run into any,” said Kita.
“What? You don’t want them learning the hard way like we did?”
“We already learned the hard way,” said Babydoll.
“Ha. Wish I could have seen that,” teased Valor.
“It’s funny now. At the time, I wasn’t sure what we were going to do. Kita, we’ve found our first group of humans. What do you want me to tell them?”
“Tell them to go to general quarters and run the diagnostics for their
section. We don’t know what shape the ship is in and we may have to fight our way out of this.”
“Rodger,” said Babydoll.
“Wilco, when we find some,” said Valor.
Kita nodded and turned to Defiance. “I told the others to send the crew to general quarters and run diagnostic checks.”
Defiance nodded. “Sounds good. Emperor knows what these damn dogs and bunnies have done to my ship.”
“Kita,” said Valentine, “I’ve got the main computer back online. It’s running through its checks now.”
“Computer, authenticate Princess Casey Bush.”
“Princess Casey Bush—authenticated. I will alert all sections you are aboard the ship and are in command.”
“Good, that’s what I want to hear. Sound general quarters and send out special instructions that all Verisom and Diamock forces are considered hostile and to be terminated with extreme prejudice.”
“Yes, Princess.”
“Do we need to stay here?” said Kita to Valentine.
“I’m linked into the system, and I’ll give you access so we can talk to it from anywhere.”
“Good. Let’s get back to the bridge.”
“Captain Anderson,” said Kita to Enterprise’s executive officer in a sinister tone. Then she smiled to tell him she was playing with him.
“Your Highness, Captain Kita,” he replied as he saluted, not reacting to Kita’s tone.
“I don’t have time for pleasantries, Captain,” snapped Defiance. “Get my ship back online. I want squadrons ready to go and to know the situation around us. We have five enemy ships in the vicinity that could attack at any moment, and I want to beat them to the punch.”
“Yes, Your Highness. I will marshal the crew and bring the ship up to combat readiness.”
“Make sure they run a diagnostic check on their stations,” said Kita. “We don’t know what the bunnies and doggies have done to the systems.”
Anderson’s jaw tightened as he ground out a, “Yes, Captain,” between his teeth.
Kita smiled at him. There was no love lost between them. He seemed to dislike her having any kind of authority on the ship. I’m dating your princess, so deal with it.
Kita, Defiance, and Valentine walked around the bridge. Kita disposed of the bodies while Valentine ran diagnostics on different terminals. Defiance watched as the crew exited the elevator, sometimes solo, other times in large groups, and restored the bridge to operational status.