>>>~~~~<<<
She knew the risks of flying this far into the outer rims of the Cosmic Wall. Her old superiors warned her relentlessly about the xenophobic Tripholions, and their “shoot first, ask questions never” approach to strangers. And sure, she did encounter a few scattered Tripholion ships, and one of them may have damaged her warp drive. So, what, she was stranded a hundred light years from the nearest friendly star system without the ability to use FTL travel?
But despite the looming realization of her inevitable doom, something more immediate was bothering her. The Tripholions who attacked her seemed almost scattered and even a little scared. Heck, they only got a hit on her because they didn’t immediately fire on her, and she assumed they were friendly. Perhaps appropriate behavior for sneaky space pirates, but not the bloodthirsty xenophobic Tripholions. She had been warned they were a very organized and pervasive race in this area. Based on the stories, she had expected to run into a dozen ships that would have fired at her all at once. Yet, all she found were a couple of limping scout ships that only got a cheap shot on her before leaving when they realized she wasn’t shooting back immediately.
“This isn’t right,” she stated as she scanned for the nearest waypoint. Perhaps she’d find a scout satellite or something, maybe even a friendly bunch of locals. But if whatever sent the Tripholions running like children was still nearby, she doubted she’d be so lucky. But her other choice was limping through space until her life support failed. So, hopefully, whoever is out there takes prisoners.
Her scan came back negative for the most part, but they did return a reply for a temporary node. Temp nodes were common for scouting fleets, like for colonizers, merchants, or, more likely, a mobile military base. The thing about the latter is that they can detect when someone pings their location and very accurately find them in turn. So, assuming the worst, that meant whoever tore apart the Tripholions now had her exact coordinates.
“Maybe they’ll ignore me. I’m just one ship,” she tried to convince herself, “if I go the other direction, they might not see me as worth their time.”
“ALERT: Hailing Signal Received,” her ship’s computer blared, “Marked As Urgent: Reply or Be Destroyed.”
“That figures,” she sighed and accepted the hail.
“Attention unmarked vessel, identify yourself,” she received a message in the Tripholion language.
“Um, I don’t speak Tripholion,” she replied. An eerie silence followed before another message was received.
“Attention unmarked vessel, identify yourself,” was said to her in almost fluent Themision Common. It was a humanoid woman’s voice, although some kind of feedback made the voice almost robotic.
“I… I’m not hostile, I’m just an exploration vessel,” she replied, “Themision ID: 1414624.”
“Unmarked vessel, remain in position and prepare to be received,” the voice continued.
“What?” She was confused until a massive military vessel warped in. It was sleek, pearly white, and shaped like a giant arrowhead with glowing veins. Before she could even reach for her controls, a tractor beam sucked her ship into the other’s hangar. “Looks like we’re doing this now…”
\________^________/
Being taken aboard an unknown alien spaceship was not ideal. Still, she was confident she could at least attempt to talk her way out of certain death. What she wasn’t prepared for was her captor’s appearance. Sure, she expected more effeminate aliens, thanks to the voice she heard earlier, probably with cybernetic augments. What she didn’t expect was an apparently all-female race of angels.
Well, they looked like angels, at least, cyborg angels more specifically. Obviously, they weren’t actually angels. Those were, at best, long gone from this plane of existence and, at worst, total myths. Yet, here they were, an army of angelic figures armed for battle and surrounding her on all sides.
“Um, I come in peace?” She said as they led her out of her ship at gun and sword point. Because yeah, they were using swords for some reason. To be fair, they were laser swords, really weird-looking laser swords, but lasers nonetheless.
“What is your purpose in coming here?” One of the angels stepped forward to interrogate her. She assumed they were a leader of some kind. The elaborate and decorated armor was the first hint. The second hint was the fact almost all the other angels looked identical. To be fair, it wasn’t that they all shared the same face. No, they shared about three or four faces. The soldiers all looked alike, the engineers had their own appearance, and there were two types of workers, each with their own copy-pasted look.
“I’m just an explorer,” she admitted, “if I had known something was happening back here, I would never have come.” Neither statement was a lie. Sure, some would contest the explorer part, but explorers always brought back mementos.
“And?” The officer angel stared her down. No, it was more like she was staring through her.
“Um, that’s it?” She replied.
“Half-truths are just another form of lies,” the officer snapped. “Take her to be processed with the rest of the prisoners. We’ll extract the information once she’s more willing.” A group of soldiers complied with a half-salute and immediately surrounded and dragged her away.
“Hey, I haven’t done anything wrong,” she pleaded.
“Entering our space is a crime in and of itself,” the angels replied in unison.
They dragged her through the ship, not giving her a single chance to fight back. It wasn’t long before they made their way to their brig. It certainly looked like a prison, but she had never seen one incorporated into their medical wing. She didn’t know why they were operating on the Tripholions and didn’t want to know why.
“Please, I’ll leave and never come back. I won’t say a thing,” she begged.
“Such pleas will get you nowhere,” the cyborg angel soldiers replied in unison.
“Come on, I-” She was cut off by the sound of a Tripholion screaming as loud medical equipment bore into it. She didn’t dare look, but thankfully, the screams subsided in a moment. “You’re not going to do that to me, are you?”
“Don’t you fret,” one of their doctors stepped forward. She shared the same face as the engineers she saw in the hangar. “Such process is reserved for the Tripholions because of their vastly different anatomy. The process for humans is much less painful.”
“That doesn’t make me feel better,” she exclaimed.
“It matters not what you feel now,” the doctor replied. “You’ll learn to enjoy it like all the others.”
“Enjoy?” She looked back, and she didn’t see the Tripholion anymore. A group of the angels left the room they were operating in, one carrying a box full of pieces, but not enough to make a full Tripholion. Dare she wonder where the rest went?
“She’ll be a quick process. Let’s cut her to the front of the line,” the doctor declared. “I don’t want to listen to her complaining all day.”
“What are you going to do to me?” She screamed.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make you beautiful,” the doctor smiled.
“What, no, I’m not…stop!” They dragged her into the operating room. She prayed, pleaded, and begged to whatever higher power would listen, but no one would come in time. She was silently thankful when they pumped her full of anesthetics, which knocked her right out. That way, she didn’t have to feel anything when they started
\________^________/
When she finally opened her eyes, the doctor had brought her a mirror. They hadn’t lied, she did look beautiful, so much better than before. This was amazing, everyone should feel this way. She couldn’t wait to go home and share this with everyone she knew.
>>>~~~~<<<
Traveling the unknown to boldly go where no one has gone before is all well and good. Just remember, traveling the unknown comes with unknown risks and a mountain of uncertainties. You never know what you might find, or what might find you.
Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy.
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