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Lacuna Blue

By Mantrid Brizon

Chapter Twenty-Eight: What’s Done Is Done

“Fuck you, motherfucker! Oh, you want some too?! Well fuck you!” Prat screams.

With his preferred weapon in hand, he empties a JV-8 into a massive horde of Marionettes. Lying prone atop a crate, he shoots only a few feet above the heads of the other Slavers. As his weapon runs dry, he begins to reload, only to find that he has one final magazine.

“Shit!” He exclaims. “AARGH-FUCK!” He growls as a round nicks his snout.

Rolling off of the crate, he falls to the floor, his weapon sliding away.

“Here!” Donovan yells to him.

Prat turns just in time to the dark skinned, dreadlocked human throwing him a heavy GSX-1 rail gun. The weapon clanks and clicks as the eight rotary barrels turn in his left hand. Prat grins from cheek to cheek. He’s never had the opportunity to use a GSX-1 before; it’s an exceedingly rare weapon. Much like the GS-2, it was an experimental weapon to create a rapid-fire rail gun. With a massive drum magazine containing one thousand bolts and eight spinning barrels, the man-portable minigun was dropped for being far too heavy; most are seen mounted as light armaments on ships, but this model is an original.

“Hell-fucking-yeah!” Prat giddily exclaims.

Donovan smirks as Prat climbs back up onto the same crate he just fell from. Standing just behind it and on a smaller crate, his unarmored upper half and head are fully exposed as the barrels of the GSX-1 rapidly spin.

“Eat this you fucking zombies! AHAHAHAHA!!!” He cackles as he opens fire.

Bolts fly out in a nearly unbroken stream of burnt orange, like a discolored laser beam. Marionettes are cleaved in half by the force of the bolts as he shoots, a seemingly endless barrage of rounds hitting them. He sweeps the weapon from left to right, as if he were painting a gory picture on a canvas.

“At least one of us is having fun!” George smirks, ducking down beside the crate with May, James and Erica.

“Who says we’re not having fun?! We’re having fun!” James grins, reloading his GS-2 rail rifle.

Prat sees Michael racing for his ship. With his slave man and crew of four following him, he boards his ship with an entourage of attractive female slaves, with several males lumped in for good measure. As they ride the cargo lift of the Governor Parr, Prat focuses his attention of them. At such a distance, the rounds begin to spread. Though he does his best to maintain control, even firing in short bursts, he only manages to kill a single male slave. The coldly shove his corpse from the cargo lift just before it closes.

Mixed up with the Marionettes as he attempts escape, Garin races for the Governor Parr as the engines begin to activate. A low hum turns into a high-pitched whirring.

“Wait! Don’t leave me!” Garin pleads with the ship.

“There you are!” Prat exclaims.

Seeing Garin as he fretfully waves a hand in a futile attempt to gain Michael Cost’s attention, he stands out among the zombie-like Marionettes. Aiming directly at Garin’s back, who is much closer, Prat takes his time. The barrels spin too fast to see them as his finger slowly squeezes the trigger. With a short burst that likely contained over twenty bolts, they blast into his upper right shoulder, cleaving his arm from his body. Garin drops to the ground.

“That’s right... Die, you little bitch.” Prat smirks.

Returning his attention to the still considerable mass of mindless drones, Prat fires until his GSX-1 runs dry for the second time. Without any more ammunition, he sets the weapon aside. His heart breaks at the thought of abandoning such an exquisite killing machine, but he has little choice. Taking up a GS-2, he rejoins his crew and friends down below. George shoots two Marionettes in the head with quick succession, while May and Rakshasa open fire on a pack with handheld blasters. Even Kira and Ein must wield weapons in their defense, though they struggle to hit anything.

Lifting off, the Governor Parr charges it’s plasma cannons. Their hearts sink at the thought of a gunboat firing upon them and slaughtering them en masse.

“You think this is over? ... No... That would be too easy! I want you to live, knowing that you failed! I want you to suffer!” Michael’s voice booms over the Lagos Depot intercoms.

The plasma canons turn and he fires at the other docked ships. George screams and his eyes well with tears as the Governor Parr blasts whole chunks out of the Bannockburn, which sits defenseless. Turning his cannons, Michael gives the Zebrina and Ourang Medan the same treatment. The Animus, however, he leaves intact and undamaged. Did his modest friendship with captain Jonathan Irving cause him to spare the craft, or did he simply not want them to be imprisoned, having some means of escaping besides calling the authorities?

Whatever the reasons make little difference. The inner airlock doors open and they are forced to watch helplessly as the Governor Parr enters the first of two segments. The ship taunts them as it casually waits to depart, quickly entering the void of space and fleeing Lagos Depot. Following the Woods brother’s lead, the Slaver’s Union guards moving like a black and purple wave. Crushing the tactless and poorly armed Marionettes, they defeat Michael’s army within less than an hour. Near the rear of the force, George glances at the landing pad that once contained the Governor Parr.

“We need to start cleaning this place up...” George says with a sniffle. “First, check the roster and see who’s still alive, then run a sweep of the base for any more Marionettes. After that, lock down Michael’s lab and set up shifts to load the bodies into the incinerators...” He commands.

“Yes, Sir!” Captain Silva nods.

A groaning suddenly claims his attention. Walking up to the sound with May by his side, the others follow closely behind. There, on his belly, a one-armed Garin bleeds out. Donovan and Rakshasa quickly roll him over, lying him on his back.

“Well, well, well... If it isn’t my little rat...” George growls.

“F-fuh... Fuck you...” Garin struggles to speak.

Blood spews from his lips, the result of a stray bolt striking a lung. He is clearly going into shock, having laid there bleeding for nearly fifteen minutes. They’re collectively amazed that he’s even still alive. George takes aim with his blaster, pointing it at Garin’s head.

“I hope you’re proud of yourself, you bastard.”

Squeezing the trigger, George fires his last round right between Garin’s eyes. May rests her hands on his shoulders and nuzzles his cheek, giving him a little kiss. Turning to her, he takes her into his arms and holds her tightly. With his chin on her shoulder, he looks over to James, who gives Erica the same treatment. Though he knows that she must have killed his niece and nephew, he cannot deny that she serves to stabilize his brother, who is otherwise severely unhinged from all of the trauma and twice using sky dust.

With the Marionettes defeated, George begins to tally the wounded and the dead. They’ve faired far better than he had hoped. Of almost three hundred and fifty Slavers, including his two hundred and fifty guards, one hundred and ninety guards remain unharmed, with twenty-three injured and thirty-seven dead. Of the technicians, general laborers, and the captains and crew who serve the Union, the losses are far greater. Both captain Jonathan Irving and captain Harvey Crippen, along with many of their crew have died.

Most of the technicians and service staff are also deceased; of the general laborers, only Scott the bartender managed to escape, and of James’ original crew, only Kristen, Kaley and Brooke remain alive, though the latter two bear superficial blaster wounds. After sorrowfully updating their roster, George and his team examine Michael’s lab. To their surprise, Michael must have assumed he was going to successfully claim Lagos Depot. A computer terminal’s holoscreen reads as follows.

“Reformat hard drive? Yes. No.”

A cursor hovers over “Yes”, but it hasn’t been clicked. Moving the cursor to “No”, they save Michael’s data. Had he panicked and thought he began the destruction of his research? Whatever the case may be, he left behind all of his valuable data. He’s left behind everything that he knew about creating the Marionette’s. His lab’s computer is a veritable gold mine. How many nations would murder countless lives for this data? How much improved could the Slavery business be now?

“Look at this! This is amazing! Maybe I was wrong about Michael?” James says, half in jest.

“I don’t think so...” George grumbles.

“Bad joke. I’m sorry... We’re going to find him, George. We’re down, but we’re not out yet!” James says assuringly.

James keeps the data, though he can see that George is conflicted. With no guards around and only George’s crew and Erica as witnesses, the elder Woods steps up to his younger brother.

“James... We were going to leave.” He confides.

“Leave what?” James raises a brow.

“Th Slaver’s Union. I took 200,000,000 credits, ten percent of the empire I built. I was going to take May, the rest of my crew and the Bannockburn and start over; live a legit life and just be normal. We were going to leave today, except this happened.” George explains.

James can’t believe his ears. He stares in shock, his eyes bulging out of his head.

“You want to leave?!” James rapidly backtracks. “But all we’ve done and all we have here!”

“James...” George rests a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “This isn’t a life. We can do better.”

Though James had also wanted to leave, he now burns with anger and hatred for Michael. After all that he’s put them through, he lives to see Michael eat molten metal, or suck the icy void of space into his lungs. Now with the technology to create more Marionettes, and fewer Slavers to pay off and no other captains to give shares too, their extensive fortune and reputation could serve to make his vengeance a reality.

“But George...”

“Look at this place, James? Of the few technician’s left alive, they’ve already done a fairly thorough damage assessment. Lagos Depot is nearly dead, and I don’t want to do this again. I can’t. After I saw that little girl in that crate.” George’s eyes well up and he quickly wipes away a tear, sniffling. “I can’t live like this. It’s not just criminal, it’s evil. Smuggling drugs is one thing but slavery? I’m done, James. We’re done. We want out, and we don’t want to hunt Michael down, repair Lagos Depot or rebuild another station. This is over.”

“Maybe for you...” James grumbles.

He extends an arm toward Erica, who quickly rushes up to him and slips underneath it.

“I’m going to keep going and kill Michael. After that, I might be done, or I might not. With this in our possession...” James pauses, looking back at Michael’s computer terminal. “With this, everything is different.”

“What about us?” Kira asks.

“Please, James...” May softly begs.

“You’re my brother, and I want you to be happy. If you want to take your girlfriend and crew and leave, then by all means.” James begins.

“Thanks, James.” George leans in for a hug.

“I’ll let you keep twenty-five percent of the Slaver’s Union funds. That’s 500,000,000 credits. You and your crew can have a good life with that. I need to keep the Animus though, until I can replace my ship.” James explains as he embraces his older brother.

“Anything you say, bro. I’ll be in the market for a new ship anyway. The Animus isn’t really my style.” George says.

“You can’t replace the Bannockburn.” Ein remarks.

“Never, but May and I will need a new home.” George retorts.

“What about us?” Donovan asks.

“You’ll get you cut.” George assures them.

“You don’t want us to go with you?” Kira asks with sorrowful eyes.

George turns around, looking at his crew. They all appear intent on following him, even after this is over.

“You’d want to come with us?” He asks, draping an arm over May’s shoulders.

“Hell yeah!” Prat exclaims.

“Haven’t found a better captain yet.” Donovan smirks.

“You’ve grown on me.” Rakshasa remarks.

With his crew intent on staying, and James unwilling to drop the Slaver’s Union banner, they make an agreement in the privacy of Michael’s lab. James will take over the Slaver’s Union as he sees fit, ruling it as the sole leader. George, May and the rest of his crew will be given a ride to Mars where they can rebuild. As none of them have major criminal records, they have miraculously escaped the Union unharmed and with considerable wealth. It’s more than most can say.

For the new few days, they help James clean up Lagos Depot and prepare for their departure. George’s transition of power becomes public knowledge, and James seamlessly gains control as the only captain of the Slaver’s Union. During their time there, James allows Rakshasa to examine and treat him. As a highly skilled medical doctor, she determines the damage caused by the sky dust. Luckily for James, it isn’t severe or permanent, and with drug treatments, she’s able to reverse much of the damage done to his mind already.

With his own mind and willpower restored, James quickly realizes the flaws in Erica’s story about what happened to his children. However, he’s too dependent on her emotional support; he can’t betray her now and remain sane. For now, at least, Erica will remain his lover and confidant. On the day that George and the others plan to leave, James meets his brother one last time. It may be the last time that they will ever see each other again; they’re futures are plotting entirely different courses.

“This is for you.” James says, handing George a small gold and cherry wood box.

Opening the box, he finds two articles inside. One is a credit chit, already plugged into a reader. Activating it, he finds 600,000,000 credits on it, far more than the twenty-five percent they agreed upon. The other is a data drive.

“What’s this?” George asks, holding the drive.

“A copy.”

“A copy of what?”

“Michael’s data...”

George is appalled, be as he looks down at the small drive in his hands, he hesitates to destroy it. Regardless of the means to procure it, he cannot deny the value in the data, though he is certain that he could never bring himself to use it. Setting the drive back into the box with the credit chit and reader, he closes and latches the lid. He gives his brother a long and tight embrace, then they say their goodbyes. They carry only their packs and favorite personal belongings. Prat holds two large cases and a pack, inside which is a cache of weapons, one of them being the GSX-1; why abandon such a wonderful device?

Boarding the Animus, they find the cargo hold full of olive drab crates. George turns around and glances to his brother.

“What’s with these?” He asks.

“Surplus stock. Most of my efforts will be spent hunting down that little bastard.” James explains.

“And what are we doing with them?” May raises a brow.

“Whatever...” James shrugs. “You were right. This isn’t much of a life, but it’s all I’ve got left. My focus won’t be on this business, at least for a while. Goodbye, bro.”

As he had promised, James has a crew of Slaver’s fly the Animus to Mars. Landing on the outskirts of a large city, the crew make up a story they can agree upon and begin opening the crates. With the other Slaver’s in plain clothes, they wake up the former slaves, setting them free. Crate after crate opens as they awaken the men and women of various ages and races. Kneeling beside a crate, Ein opens it and no sooner than the steam wafts away, a golden furred Voeldahn springs up in her crate.

“Woah there!” He exclaims.

He quickly drapes a blanket over her to cover her nude body.

“You’re safe now.” He says, resting a hand on her shoulder.

“Where am I?! Who are you?!” She gasps, her tall ears perking.

“I’m Ein Hirota. You’re on a yacht. We’re heading to Mars when we heard a distress signal. We found a derelict ship floating out in space. It must have broken down between trips; it was really far out there.” Ein spins their story.

“A derelict?” The girl asks.

“Yeah.” Ein nods, using the blanket to dry her damp fur. “You’re lucky. It looked like one of those Slaver’s Union assholes.”

“Oh.” She murmurs.

After removing the last of the devices that preserved her life, Ein stands to his feet. He takes her hand and lifts he from the crate. Now focusing on the man who had revived her, the girl is briefly struck by his appearance; she stammers as she talks to the handsome man who would be her savior.

“I-I’m uh... I’m Layla.” She says.

“Hello Layla. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Ein smiles.

“L-likewise.” The bunny answers.

After reviving the slaves and setting them free, they feed their story to the authorities, who buy it hook, line and sinker. With the Animus’ computer already thoroughly scrubbed, it appears to be a relatively new craft with little history; they’re all released without incident. The plain clothes Slaver’s escort George and his crew around Mars for a time. Worried that Michael might be out to harm them, James wants to be sure that he won’t act and try to kill George and the others.

After only a few days, George divvies out the percentage to his crew, all of whom remain with him. Catalina and Marissa remain the girlfriend of Donovan and Prat. Ein soon begins dating Layla, who had developed an almost instantaneous attraction to him, one he returned in kind. With no sign of Michael Cost, the Slaver’s return to Lagos Depot with the Animus. George and May make plans to start again, and within a month, they marry. At their wedding, his entire crew, their additions, and even Fiona, Whitley, Gretsch and her infant son, Marcus, come to see them.

“Congratulations, you two. It’s good to finally see you again.” Fiona says, embracing George and May.

“Likewise.” George nods.

“You’re looking good.” May remarks.

“I’m always looking good.” Fiona smirks.

“It’s nice to see that you made it out of there.” Gretsch interjects.

“Yeah. We’re going to start over again.” George begins.

He sees the apprehensive, even fearful expressions on the faces of his old crew.

“You don’t mean...” Whitley murmurs.

“No! Nothing like that!” George exclaims.

They breathe a collective sigh of relief.

“We’re going to buy another ship and start our lives over. That’s all I meant. Maybe transport cargo. Maybe just explore. Who knows what the future holds?” George shrugs his shoulders.

“Who knows, indeed... Off topic, but when I first saw your wedding dress, I almost thought you were naked.” Whitley chuckles, glancing at May.

“Shut up, Whitley.” Fiona, Gretsch and May all say simultaneously.

“Old times...” George smiles. “Hey, since we’re on the subject, this is what I was thinking of purchasing.”

Holding up a small device, George activates a holographic image of a spaceship. Their eyes grow wide as they look at the craft.

“Gawking at the new coup... Holy shit.” Prat gasps.

George chuckles as he looks to the rest of his crew, who quickly approach the newlyweds.

“I thought you’d like this.”

“It’s so big!” Fiona comments.

“I’ve heard that before.” George quips.

“Not from me. I have standards.” Fiona winks.

“What is that?!” Kira asks with wide eyes.

“An SVZ-100 ‘Avidity’ Cruiser. Far more powerful than any civilian is legally allowed to own, unless they are a Sectan. They have a special exemption; they live so deep in space that military grade ships like this are allowed.” May explains.

“But we’re not Sectans.” Donovan remarks.

“Says who? I’ve kept my list of contacts; they’re more than happy to add us to the roster, and I can easily afford it.” George chuckles.

“That’s far too big for the usual crew.” Gretsch remarks, gently bouncing her son in her arms.

“I know. It’ll need a few more faces. I’ve got a few lined up who are willing to join. Kristen, Kaley and Brooke, for starters. There’s plenty of room, if you want a job.” George says to his old crew.

Glancing back at each other, the trio can’t help but grin at the thought.

“Obviously, my rates have gone up to match my looks.” Fiona quips.

“Oh, of course.” George laughs.

“Why not?” Whitley shrugs.

“Gretsch?” May turns to her.

Looking down at little Marcus, she takes a moment to think. Like the others, she’s lived a quiet life supported entirely from her savings, the funds George gave them when they left him. She would be lying if she said that she didn’t miss the thrill of space travel, and George seems to be the same man she knew before.

“Alright.” She nods. “I’m in.”

James and Erica stand in the large bridge of their new acquisition, the Lomboko, one of the last functioning MBX-2160 ‘Endurance’ ships. With aid from the Scrappers, the ship’s hull has been entirely refitted with modern armored plates. The ships armaments have been modernized with military grade plasma cannons, the generators rebuilt and modified and shield generators to protect the crafts massive hull have been installed. Even the engines have been updated, with a more modern hyper drive capable of the same speed as every other ship currently in use.

The remaining Slaver’s now serving as his crew and private army. The Lomboko teems with life. As George had suspected, Lagos Depot was unsalvageable, at least not without considerable cost. Deciding against repairing the horrifically damaged structure, they simply locked it down. Perhaps one day they’ll return to reclaim it? Until then, James is on a mission, and his new ship is ready to be put to the test. He commands his crew to take them deeper into space, following a lead on Michael’s whereabouts.

As they plot a course, an encrypted signal comes through. Only George would contact him in this fashion. Opening a direct channel, a holographic screen activates automatically. There sits George aboard the bridge of a new and fancy looking spaceship. In the background hangs a framed picture of the Bannockburn. Among the crew that he can see, Fiona and Gretsch are among them, as well as several entirely new faces. As large as their new ship is, the Azilian needs a much larger crew. Like James’ Lomboko, George’s cruiser is a force to be reckoned with, as is the sheer number of those dwelling aboard.

“Hey, James!” George chirps. “I see you put your funds to good use. That bridge looks awfully familiar. I think I saw it before in a history book!”

“You also blew one up. A shame too. There aren’t many of these babies left.” James answers.

“Still going on the hunt?”

“What else would I do? ... Heh.” James smirks.

“Maybe what I’m doing? Explore deep space. Cruise around. Haha! ... Cruise... In a cruiser.” George grins.

“Ha-ha... You’re going into deep space? With that thing?! Now that’s a joke.” James chuckles.

“This is a Sectan cruiser; it’s the sleeker, more modern and more comfortable version of that space station you call a ship. Our indoor garden and food stores could last us to Alpha Centauri.”

“Really?” James raises an eyebrow.

“Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but you get the idea.”

“Well, have fun with your ‘exploring’. Maybe I’ll see you in space someday.” James replies.

“Maybe... Good luck on the hunt. If you ever find Michael Cost, make sure he didn’t forget about me. Come up with something clever and painful.”

“I will, believe me.” James nods.

“Good. Captain Woods of the Azilian, signing off.” George waves dramatically before terminating their connection.

“Well, that was fun! ... Ready, babe?” James turns to Erica.

“Ready, my love.” She answers, taking his hand.

“Alright then... Ahem! Activate the hyper drive! Let’s see if we can find Mr. Cost on Ganymede!” James commands.

“Yes, sir!” Crewmembers chirp.

The engines hum as the Lomboko charges up. Entering warp bubble, the massive craft disappeares into a singularity; James, Erica, his ship and the entire Slaver’s Union vanish into the void of space.

“Are we ready to go?” George asks, sitting in his captain’s chair.

“Everything’s green on my screen!” Kira chirps.

“Aren’t you a bottle of sunshine.” Fiona chuckles.

“I have a sunny disposition.” Kira retorts.

“I think I have something for that.” Rakshasa quips.

“Mr. Hirota?” George begins.

“Yes, cap’n?” Ein glances back.

“Get out and push.” George teases.

“Right away, cap’n!”

Lifting off from a landing pad on Mars, the recently loaded and outfitted Azilian launches on her maiden voyage. With a new ident chip registering the vessel and her crew as Sectans, whether or not it’s entirely true, they prepare for a long, enjoyable and perfectly legal trip into deep space. With the engines humming pleasantly, Ein activates the hyper drive. Following May’s plotted course, the ship enters a warp bubble, disappearing into a singularity and vanishing into the void of space...