044: Outrageous Fortune – Four
Beyond the arched, severe windows of the armoury, a fiery nebula of red and gold stained the black of the void. A low, menacing tune filled the space.
The Hand in silhouette, a wickedly curved sword held out in front of her as she inspected the sharpness of the blade. She handled it with the confidence of someone well versed in its use.
"I had a feeling I'd find you here."
The Hand went still at the intruding voice, slow to turn and level a glare at the interloper. Casually leaning against the open door to the room, Chancellor Bathory stood with her arms and legs casually crossed, a smirk as razor sharp as the Hand's sword adorning her lips.
"And why were you looking?" Was her measured response a moment later, her attention turning back to her weapon.
Bathory let out a low hum at that, pushing off the door to saunter over to a weapon rack along the far wall.
With her sword held casually at her side, the Hand followed Bathory's movements with her eyes.
The Chancellor selected a sword of her own - the blade long and broad, double edged with a keen point. She gave it an experimental twirl, causing the weapon to whistle sharply as it sliced through the air. Satisfied with the heft of the sword, she fell into a ready stance, tossing her cape so it hung from her back instead of draping across her shoulders, the tip of her sword pointed directly at the Hand's heart.
The Hand merely cocked her head before lifting her own blade in response.
A match inevitable, the pair circled one another slowly, eyes locked and swords at the ready.
Bathory made the first move, a sweeping strike to take advantage of her reach, but the Hand was swift, ducking the blow to lash out at the Chancellor's abdomen with her own sword.
The other woman was quick to spin her sword around, catching her opponent's blade before it could come into contact with her flesh. The two backed off, circling once more.
"I'm looking for information, of course, and what better place to get it than the Queen's little spymaster?" Bathory explained.
The Hand hummed out a disbelieving laugh. "And what secrets do you think I'll be willing to give up?"
Bathory lunged, and the Hand deflected the blade with her own, sparks flying before their hilts crashed together.
Staring at the other woman between their crossed blades, Bathory asked, "How about a wager? If I win, you tell me exactly what I want to know?"
"And if I win?" The Hand countered, not appearing to be worried about this demand.
Bathory smirked. "I'll tell you whatever you want to know. I am fair, if nothing else."
"So be it." The Hand agreed with a slight tilt of her head, and their bout began in earnest.
A full head taller, her reach and strength giving her an advantage, Bathory was a whirl of motion. She brought her sword down again and again, raining blows that would have obliterated a lesser opponent.
The Hand, however, was far from lesser.
Against Bathory's brute force, the Hand was lightning quick and precise. Redirecting rather than blocking, sidestepping expertly to maneuver herself into and out of the Chancellor's guard, she masterfully wove her blade through the air to both attack and defend.
They broke apart to circle each other for position once more, chests heaving, eyes bright with the thrill of battle.
"You're better than I expected," Bathory admitted, a wicked grin adorning her features, "I'd assumed someone who spent her life in the shadows wouldn't be as proficient in face to face combat."
The Hand's smirk mirrored her own, and before Bathory could react, she shot out her sword to catch the Chancellor's blade in a ringing blow, her leg sweeping out to knock Bathory off her feet.
Her sword skidding out of her hand across the floor, Bathory landed heavily, eyes wide in shock as the Hand swiftly followed her down, her sword a whisper away from Bathory's throat as she crouched over her.
"A dangerous assumption you would do well to unlearn."
Despite the incredibly clear and present threat, Bathory couldn't help the slow smile that darkened her eyes as she said, "Touché."
The Hand laughed soundlessly at that, once, before standing and walking over to where Bathory's sword had come to rest.
"Well, I'm a woman of my word," the Chancellor said as she stood, resettling her cape across her shoulder, "Ask of me whatever you wish to know."
The Hand didn't respond immediately, in fact she acted as if Bathory wasn't even there. Retrieving the other woman's sword, she brought both weapons to the rack across the room, carefully putting them in their proper places.
Only once she was done did she turn to the Chancellor and say, "So be it. What information were you hoping to get from me?"
Bathory blinked, clearly not expecting the Hand to have asked that, but she quickly masked it with a careless shrug. "Aren't there juicier questions you could be asking?"
The Hand shot her a smirk at that. "About your past? I'm afraid I was able to dig up all I needed to know about that."
"Oh?" The challenge was apparent in the Chancellor's offhand comment.
Mimicking the Chancellor's earlier casualness, the Hand leaned against the nearest wall, arms and legs crossed as she said, "As the only daughter to Human diplomats, you spent your youth among the stars, learning statecraft from dozens of different cultures. A large extended family, you were doted upon, youngest as you were. However, tragedy befell your family when they began to be killed off in rapid succession."
Bathory had gone deadly still at that, her expression hardening into something unreadable.
Though her position remained casual, the Hand's expression turned as stony as the Chancellor's as she continued. "The authorities of you world claimed it was nothing more than accidents and bad luck, but your family's financials paint a different picture. Dealings with other races had netted them substantial wealth, much of it coming from the illegal trade of artifacts - authorities can't keep diplomats under as total scrutiny as they can keep simple traders, after all. But that wealth drew the attentions of some rather unsavory types, and when your family refused to play along with the schemes of these newcomers, they were dealt with. Brutally. According to the official reports, you died along with the few relatives you had left alive when your spacecraft was shot down en route to Apiarius space."
The Hand shoved herself off the wall, walking to stand before Bathory as she said, "But not long after that, your family's funds seemed to vanish from all their holdings. And then, one by one, everyone involved in the deaths of your relatives began to vanish too. As their number dwindled, they swore up and down that they were being hunted, being killed, but no bodies ever surfaced, no signs of struggle left in the last known locations of all those who had gone missing. And when the last of them disappeared without a trace, one Chancellor Bathory began to make her debut on the scene."
Her eyes catching the golden light from outside, Bathory breathed out a sliver of a laugh, one eyebrow arching up as she said, "I suppose I should have expected you to be so thorough in your investigation of potential allies."
The Hand returned the slight laugh, crossing her arms as she looked up at the taller woman. "A mistake I know you won't be making again. So no, I don't need you to tell me your life's story. For one such as myself, it was easy enough to find. As such, I know that those who have wronged you are all dead and gone - I know you'd be too careful to leave bodies lying around for law enforcement to find - so you have other motivations for wanting to ally yourself with my Queen. And that reason, I believe, is what brought you to me today."
Bathory gave a slight smile then, pulling open her cape so the Hand could see her going for a small case at her hip, not a weapon. She removed a small object from it, before tossing it to the Hand.
The woman caught it easily, though her curious expression changed to one of confusion as she regarded it, turning the item over in her hands. It was a strange piece of metal, though it had a strangely organic look to it.
"But this is from…" The Hand trailed off, glancing up at the Chancellor.
Her smirk returning once more, Bathory said, "You aren't the only one the Storlayacas call to, it seems."
"We can probably delve more into it later, but I think we've seeded enough to start the whole thread of all our characters having some kind of weird, supernatural connection to these Hyttan mechs," Rhea said later that evening in the rec room, once the filming, editing, and screening of their latest short was completed, "For the moment, I'd like to have a little brainstorming session to try and come up with a reason as to why these mechs seem hell bent on having our characters as their pilots."
Elytra grimaced, saying, "It would probably make things easier if we knew why the Storlayacas actually chose us."
From where she was curled up in a tight ball against Rhea, data pad balanced on her knees, Malakh let out a short laugh. "You're telling me! Vi and I have poked around though as much of their systems as we can decipher, but the Storlayacas aren't giving up much of anything!"
"Maybe the next one we find will provide some answers," Viatrix said from her console, "Once it gives up its location! My scans haven't come up with anything just yet."
"You shall find it in due time," Pryseia assured her, "My faith in you is absolute."
"If I could, I'd be blushing!" Was Viatrix's pleased response.
"But to get back on track, revenge is the theme shared by all of our characters," Nevara began, her mandibles clicking together thoughtfully, "What if that goal were extended to the Storlayacas as well?"
Elytra sat up in her seat. "We all wanted revenge so badly that this called out to them? That's certainly compelling. But what could they be wanting revenge on?"
This question was met with silence, the six of them trying to come up with logical reason for ancient machines to seek revenge.
Pryseia quickly leaned forward on the couch where she was sat, startling the others as she grabbed for the data pad she'd left on the table. "We may be coming at this from the wrong avenue," she said as she brought something up on her screen, "The narrative should serve our goals, and there's a convenient enemy with whom the Kith often grapple with, one ancient enough to have been as much of an inconvenience for the Hyttan as they are for us."
She flipped her data pad around, and the others saw that she'd brought up images of several different types of Leviathan.
"I mean, we do have those Avvisi bounties you found for some local ones," Rhea grinned in excitement, "Having the Storlayacas have a grudge against those things would give us a narrative reason to keep going after them, y'know, for more than the money we'd be getting from killing them for the Kith and all."
"How far away was the first?" Nevara asked.
"Less than a day," Pryseia replied, swiping at something on her data pad, "I've sent the information to the navigation computer."
"That would give us time enough to film a bit of a lead in, and also give us the opportunity to broadcast our hunt of this creature live." Elytra pointed out.
"And that would also go a long way to showing that we aren't just editing our way to success either," Rhea added, "Plus, live Leviathan hunts always score well with audiences."
Malakh uncoiled herself from the couch, waving at the others with her data pad as she said, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's set a course and start filming!"
The back of a black, ornate throne, the intricate carvings along its surface cast into sharp lights and shadows by the illumination coming from the assortment of control panels throughout the room.
Before the throne was a view screen showing the vast expanse of stars drifting by as the ship travelled at sublight speeds.
Seated upon this chair, Queen Kaizoku leaned forward, hands braced on the console in front of her. Her hand of flesh was motionless, while her hand of metal was tapping its fingers methodically against the console with the precision of a metronome.
Her features were caught somewhere between anger and annoyance, the fast tempo of her fingers making it clear that her mind was racing with unsettling thoughts.
Her silent reverie was interrupted when the door behind her slid open, and Madame Augury stumbled into the room. Immediately the Queen sat back, all regal poise as her expression fell into one of cool neutrality.
"I apologize for the interruption," Augury's odd, distant voice came out breathless, "But I have received a vision… a demand."
The Queen's damaged eyebrow arched above her false eye. "Oh?" Was all she said.
Chest heaving as if she'd run to the throne room, Augury nodded, before she flinched, her head tipping back and her eyes glowing white, illuminating the inside of her hood as she befell to a vision once more.
…the red, gaping maw of some terrible beast…
…limbs like fronds, tearing worlds asunder…
…screaming, terrible screaming, rattling the very fabric of reality…
…the Queen's Storlayacas, eyes flaring to life, slowly raising a hand to point a single finger forward…
Stumbling forward slightly, Augury breathed, "The machines in our possession - the Storlayacas - they sought us out for a reason. We have been wronged, just as they have been wronged. They will see to it that we achieve our goals, so long as we help them achieve theirs."
The Queen leaned in her throne, crossing one leg over the other as she leaned her head upon her fist to regard the seer before her. Her crown glinted in the lights coming from the consoles around her as she asked, "And what are their goals?"
Augury was silent for a moment as she caught her breath, but when she looked up at the Queen, her gaze was steady, her eyes burning with hate.
"They want the Leviathans destroyed."
The throne room again, the view screen filled with the pastel pearlescence of subspace, before it made the sudden lurch to the black of the void once more, a sparse asteroid field dotted with mechanical debris filling the screen.
In the pilot's seat, General Grim cast an appraising glance across the scene in front of her before asking, "Program, are you sure this is the place?"
On the General's console, the red axe avatar fragmented into view, the AI's distorted voice replying, "My calculations are correct. Target is 10K units to our starboard and closing."
To the General's right, Chancellor Bathory stepped forward, a slight smile gracing her lips as she called out, "Our party guest has arrived. We should give them a proper greeting."
Within the ship's cargo hold, the eyes of the three Storlayacas units flared to life, and as one they stood to attention and stepped forward a pace, before they were instantaneously dematted into the void of space. Drawing their firearms, they ignited their thrusters, flying off towards the threat rapidly approaching.
"What are the readings on this creature?" Queen Kaizoku demanded as they advanced.
"Threat Level Red class Leviathan," the Queen's Red Left Hand replied from her own Storlayacas, "Either a Beta or Gamma. Something an Odazaen could handle without difficulty, so we'll see how these Storlayacas fare against it."
"They will have no difficulty at all." Madame Augury assured from her own Storlayacas.
Further conversation was cut off when a terrible howl flooded the audio as the Leviathan finally came within range. Resembling a massive hand with dozens of fingers curling in to grab them, the creature was easily twice the size of their ship. Its skeletal carapace was covered in a membrane that made it look like red, wet flesh mostly butchered away from bone, a cavernous maw filled with teeth lay in wait at the very centre of its mass. With another howl, it spread its limbs and mouth wide, attempting to trap the three Storlayacas before it.
But they were far too fast for such tricks.
Darting off into three directions, this forced the Leviathan to pick a single target - the Storlayacas that the Hand had liberated from the Zymeth museum not too long ago. Flying in reverse so she could face the thing, the Hand opened fire into the mouth baring down on her. Her shots landed true, and the Leviathan screamed in rage and pain.
The other two mechs had darted in behind the beast, trading their firearms for energy sabres, and together they levelled their blades at the creature's unprotected back and threw their thrusters into overdrive to catch up.
In seconds, they were careening into the thing, the Leviathan letting out a mind-shattering cry as the blades struck true. It broke off from its pursuit of the Hand to try and fight the mechs at its back, but the damage had been done.
Its movements growing sluggish, it swatted towards Kaizoku and Augury, but they were able to dodge out of the way without issue. Before it could advance further, the Hand latched onto its back, holding her gun against the surface of the creature before opening fire. Another scream as the energy bursts tore through the thing, before it tapered off into silence. With a final shudder, the Leviathan fell limp, drifting listlessly with the momentum of its final struggle.
The comms crackled to life a moment later, Queen Kaizoku's voice calmly triumphant as she said, "You were right, Augury. The Leviathan are nothing against the might of the Storlayacas."