Short Story: CoRD, Broken Strands pt 6

The Chronicles of Revy Daidros

Introduction
Who is Revy Daidros?
Broken Strands: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9
Rough and Tumble: The Rush
Rough and Tumble: Chasing the Prize
Rough and Tumble: Ransom
Remembrance: The Beginning
Remembrance: Graduation Day
Remembrance: Beloved
Remembrance: Data Trails


Broken Strands: Part 6, The Escape

“Revy!!”

Bastion yells as he barges into the laboratory, nearly breaking the sturdy door off its hinges. Inside lies his captain, sitting upright staring at him as he enters. He stops in astonishment, to see her like this, once a respected agent of Federation Customs, now little more than a lab experiment gone horribly wrong.

“We must leave the planet, there is a shuttle waiting… The Odyssey is still safe. I did as you asked, she helped make the arrangements. But.. this.. did you do this???”

He motions down at the corpses in the chamber, the skin on their faces blistering from some unknown rash. Revy watches Bastion as he moves hastily through the room, looking over everything. When she doesn’t answer, he stops what he is doing and moves closer to her.

“Revy, I don’t know what’s happened here. But I know that if we stay, they’ll kill you. And me probably. We must leave now.”

“They won’t kill me Bastion, nor will they kill you. Its ok, I don’t feel different anymore. I know what needs to be done now. If the ambassador finds out what they’ve done here this whole installation will be torn apart. No- they won’t kill me, but I need to contact her… I need her to do it.”
She replies almost emotionlessly.

Revy then moves purposefully towards the door, moving down the hall, Bastion shakes his head and thinks aloud. Just before he leaves the room, he pulls the data core from the main medical unit. At least this can give him some answers…

“This is madness…”

The two quickly make their way thru several passageways of the nearly abandoned complex. They pass by a small crew of maintenance personnel working to restore the power to the small base. Outside, a strong planetary storm wages, and is the source of the temporary power failure. Lights flicker above them as they make their way to hanger 22, where Bastion's shuttle awaits.

Once inside, Revy lies down, fatigued and looking very fragile. Bastion covers her with blankets and hooks her into position. He then quickly gathers the necessary coordinates and begins to undock. Powerful surges of wind tear at the shuttle, threatening to tear it to pieces before it finally stabilizes and begins its swift ascent towards space.

Several hours pass, the agile shuttle making its final jump to their safe location. Bastion looks intently at the monitors in front of him. He finally finds the encryption frequency and with a sigh of relief, the data loads into view.

“What… this can’t be right…”
The resolute Vherokior begins to read the analysis.

“Ms. Daidros seems to have had a massive genetic deviation…” he mumbles
“…leaving her DNA strands altered, broken down into something we’ve never seen.”
“…apparent cause appears to have been several billion microscopic drone-like particles…”
“…entering her system by way of the Odyssey… Recommend immediate termination…”

He turns back to look at Revy, laying prone in the small shuttle. It is hard to see her like this he thinks, it is not who she is… He then opens up the com-link, and forms a message.

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