The Sisters of Velocity

[ikinai]

A preamble for my readers:

 

With the advent of the Legacy system in this game it was a bit odd that all could share the same last name. There are various ways to explain this, one being the name is a ubiquitous name throughout the galaxy, like Smith or something. Or it was termed the Legacy of Such and Such. What follows is my idea of why these disparate people (cyborgs, Mirialan, Miraluka Zabrak, etc.) share the same last name.

Edited July 9, 2013 by ikinai

[ikinai]

"Again!" The man said impatiently. The aging scientist adjusted his goggles, then pulled them down around his neck. His piercing eyes viewed the terminal as he watched the young girl in the chamber. "You foolish young girl. How many times have I told you not to pull at your implants!"

 

Quickly the scientist pushed a button filling the chamber with a sleeping toxin. "Nurse! Get that one out of there, perhaps her sister will provide a better test subject."

 

The young twi'lek he called nurse scampered into the room and retrieved the patient. "I ain't no nurse ya crossed eyed old half-wit." Vixonous muttered as she took the cyborg girl back to her holding cell and began tending to the wounds caused by the new implants that were being 'tested' on her. "Hey, wake up you. What's your name? You got a name right?"

 

Ikinai pushed Vixonous back putting her fists up as if to take a swing at her. "Where am I? And where's my lil' sister!?"

 

Vixonous rushed over to shush the new girl, looking around to make sure none of the scientists noticed the commotion. "Shut up! You'll get us in trouble."

 

Ikinai looked around noticing she was in a new, smaller lab than the one she remembered. Not as many scientists, or guards, she noted. Maybe this time she'd make it to a docking bay. There were six other holding cells, all with another test subject, at varying ages, and of course Doctor Bal'shan. He was at the old lab where Ikinai and her sister Tatakoo had spent most of their lives. Then there was this obnoxious twi'lek telling her what to do. Well, at least she was tending to the wounds, so Iki just relaxed a bit. In a hushed tone she asked again, "Where am I, what lab is this?"

 

Vixonous shook her head and looked quickly at the scientist, "Not until they put us away for the night."

 

"Nurse!? Where is that blasted twi'lek? Gather the subjects and take them to their quarters for the night." Turning to one of the engineers nearby, "You told me these machines had been calibrated to my exacting specifications. Why then are they not working? Do you not know how much we are being paid for this research? It's bad enough Czerka has cut us loose, and they don't take kindly to failure. But, if you think they're mad, I can only imagine who our new beneficiary is and how well she'll take to failure. I've heard she's a sith, so you'll kindly have these operating within acceptable parameters by the time I return from explaining to her why we don't have results yet. I'll be sure to let her know who engineered this little machine."

 

Ikinai listened in to the little squabble as she and the others were being hustled out of the laboratory. Looking around she noticed a curious sight, one of the girls had a blindfold or bandage of some kind covering her eyes. Nudging the girl a bit Iki asked her, "Wow, what'd they do, replace your eyes?"

 

The other girl just kept moving forward down the hall, smiling to herself, lost in thought. Ikinai felt someone poking her from behind, turning to see who it was she started out, "Tata I told you to..oh you're not my sister." The small Zabrak girl who poked her giggled at Ikinai.

 

"Nope I'm not, I'm Mazzy, and she's Illyse, the blind one, she's a Miraluka, she named me." Mazzy stated matter of factly, with a somewhat cheery disposition. Considering the situation all the girls were in, it seemed a bit out of place.

 

"A mira-whata? You're just making stuff up, aren't ya?"

 

"Am not, she see's with the force, ooohhh ah." Mazzy said wiggling her fingers up at Ikinai.

 

"Sure kid, I may have spent most my life in the labs, but that's gotta be one of the most ridiculous.."

 

"It's true." Illyse chimed in.

 

"It talks, amazing, or was that just the force?" Feeling a bit smug with herself Ikinai hadn't noticed that Vixonous had stopped and walked into the back of her, causing the other girls to giggle at her.

 

"Well, here's home." Vixi said.

 

Ikinai looked around the small room, noticing there were ten cots rolled out on the floor. A quick count showed only eight, if one were to count Vixonous. She turned to Vixonous, but decided not bring it up.

 

"Welcome to Velocity Corporation. We've got all the amenities, a roof, walls, blankets on a durasteel floor. Oh, who could ask for anything more?" Vixonous removed her coat and it was the first time Ikinai had noticed she was the only one wearing a shock collar. Of course in a place like this, being a slave was a step up from being a test subject. Ikinai became acutely aware of her new implants and began to scratch at them through the bandage Vixonous had put on. Noticing, Vixonous gently smacked Iki's hand away from the wound. "Now now, Nurse Vixi doesn't wanna have to redo those bandages. So stop it."

 

Ikinai stood in the middle of the room with her little sister, watching as the other girls took to their beds. Leaving four beds empty, the other girls watched as Iki and Tata made their way to the pair next to the back wall. Vixonous made a gesture as if to stop them, but then fell silent, letting them choose the beds they wanted. Huddled together the two sisters began to talk quietly amongst themselves.

 

"So, what do you have Tata? I saw four other scientists besides Bal'shan. So we are to assume the standard two, two and three setup of Czerka Corporation. If Velocity operates like Czerka, then we are probably somewhere under ground." Ikinia whispered.

 

Tatakoo looked up at her sister, "They've got the standard ray-shielding developed by a small company called Geoshields of Corellia, which is funny since it was originally developed as a way to keep Rancor out the farmers fields. The door locks seem to have been lifted directly from Czerka, should be easy enough to over-ride and unlock. The computer terminal seems to be a stand-alone system, so no data that could be useful as to what or where we are could be retrieved if accessed." Tata looked out at the other girls in the room, "Now, if we could somehow get these other subjects to create a diversion, we might be able to find a hangar bay, with a ship or shuttle somewhere."

 

Ikinai felt a quick jab to her back, turning she looked over at Vixonous. "You know, they're watching us on the cameras, right?"

 

"Yeah, they were watching us at Macsis Facilities too, we almost made it out of there, but those stupid set charges didn't go off on time. They really should box up those explosives better, ya know?"

 

"Even if you got to a ship, who would fly it, you?" Illyse asked.

 

"Yeah, I'm a fair pilot, they took me out to test my reflexes once, had me fly through an asteroid field, using some new visual reflex processing chip, still got the chip in my head, so yeah, I can still fly a ship." Iki bragged.

 

"I can tell you, there is a service tunnel not far from here. It leads to a small shuttle port used for deliveries to the station here. If you go and we help, will you take the others with you? Take them to Coruscant, to the Jedi temple there. I have trained them as best I can, but my knowledge of the Jedi are limited to the few stories I remember having been told when I was younger." Illyse said, as she made a sweeping gesture towards the younger girls in the room.

 

Ikinai stood up and looked around the room. "Wait a minute, you guys are all like those Jedi people? The force and all that stuff?"

 

"Don't look at me." Vixonous said.

 

"No, not all of us. Myself, Nal'tina there, Alir'ane and Yaveen. The four of us are force sensitive."

 

"What do they want with you guys? Are they putting implants and such in you?" Tatakoo asked.

 

"Not exactly. Nal'tina, Alir'ane and Yaveen are all fairly new to the facility and haven't really been tested much. I've been here for quite some time, over the years, most of what I've been used for is the study of the force and how it can be replicated in a device, like an implant. I think is what they've been doing. At least, that's what they told me."

 

Ikinai walked back to her bed and turned back to face the room, "Well, alright, but it's not like we're getting out of here today ya know. We're just planning, so keep it to yourself while we come up with a plan ta get us out of here." She looked over at Vixonous, who lowered her head as Iki talked about escaping. "Hey, what's with you Vixi?"

 

"It's just, I'm not really one of you, I'm owned by Dr. Bal'shan now, I was a gift from Fhena, the sith lady in charge of the facility here, to Bal'shan when he agreed to come work here instead of for Czerka."

 

"Hmmm, we'll just have to make them believe you're dead too. But, we need to somehow get that collar off ya before we take you anywhere. Tata, ya think you can get the information from Bal'shan on the collar thingy device remover?" Iki asked her sister.

 

"I dunno sis, I think he's on to me, the link between our neural implants seems to be going in and out lately. He's also been trying to shield his thoughts more. But, I'll try to get the location of the slave collar removal device."

 

"I'm guessing the device is failing because it was made by Czerka, but anyways, try to get the information. We'd better get some sleep though, no telling when they'll wake us up for another round of testing." Ikinai said.

Edited March 14, 2012 by ikinai

[Klannad]

Hello! It looks like I'm the first person to post this. From what I read so far, you're off to a great start. The goal every writer should have is to make the characters in their story seem real and alive. I think you accomplished that goal quite nicely. All of the characters were different, and the way you laced them all together in the facility was great: Perfect set up for your first action piece. You gave them a goal, which is good, because sometimes, early on in the story, a writer will give a group of people a variety of goals: which leads to the plot becoming convoluted. The only bad things I noticed (In my opinion) where the misspelling of words. You really have to be careful, because one misspelled world can shatter the reader's immersion in your story. Also, you had some repetitive words in there. To make a story run smoothly, You have to get rid of the repetition. But all in all, great story.

[ikinai]

Hello! It looks like I'm the first person to post this. From what I read so far, you're off to a great start. The goal every writer should have is to make the characters in their story seem real and alive. I think you accomplished that goal quite nicely. All of the characters were different, and the way you laced them all together in the facility was great: Perfect set up for your first action piece. You gave them a goal, which is good, because sometimes, early on in the story, a writer will give a group of people a variety of goals: which leads to the plot becoming convoluted. The only bad things I noticed (In my opinion) where the misspelling of words. You really have to be careful, because one misspelled world can shatter the reader's immersion in your story. Also, you had some repetitive words in there. To make a story run smoothly, You have to get rid of the repetition. But all in all, great story.

 

Thanks Klannad, I usually do my writing when I'm here at work, so I usually don't have a lot of time to proof read, but it's a nice diversion for me from the crazy folks around here (and yeah they are literally crazy )

[ikinai]

The next few days were pretty much the same. Tests, tests and more tests. The sisters learned more about the other girls, who they were, where they think they came from. As with Ikinai and Tatakoo all of them were abducted when very young, some remember their families, while others did not. Illyse and Vixonous were older than the others, even older than Ikinai. They acted more like mothers to the younger girls, watching out for them, healing them when necessary, separating them when they fought each other.

 

It didn't go unnoticed though, by the original girls of Velocity, that this new girl, Ikinai, seemed to be taking up more test time than the others. The tests themselves were more demanding as well. By the end of the day it was all Iki could do to make it back to the room where they lived.

 

Ikinai lay on the bed while Vixonous tried to heal her wounds, listening in on one of the younger girls whispering to Illyse, "I'm gonna beat up that Doctor one of these days, he's being mean to her."

 

"Nal'tina, that is not the Jedi way. You must be peaceful and calm." Illyse stated, trying to sound like a Jedi, or at least what she thought a Jedi sounded like.

 

"But, he's being mean to her, and he deserves it."

 

"Then the force will guide him to where it needs him to be, and if that's at the end of a lightsaber or blaster bolt, then so be it. But, that doesn't mean you should go out of your way to beat him up. Now then, it's meditation time. Come on girls, time to clear your minds and meditate, um, on the force."

 

Rolling over to watch them meditate Ikinai chimed in, "Force shmorce, gimme a good blaster and a clear shot and we'll see who's peaceful and calm."

 

Tatakoo started poking her older sister, "Sis, I got it. I think I can jam the force cage tomorrow so I can get out, but, I'll only get one shot at it and my TK129-B chip will most likely be burned out in the process, I doubt they made any others or brought them to Velocity from Czerka. So I won't have a connection to Bal'shan anymore, but I should be able to get everyone free in the confusion."

 

Ikinai was about to respond when she noticed a few shadows out in the hall. A group of imperial guards stopped in front of the doorway, "Are these the subjects, Doctor?"

 

"Yes yes, these are them, they, uh the subjects, my lords, sirs." He stammered at the guards.

 

Down the hall a woman laughed at the stammering doctor, Ikinai and Illyse looked at each other, "I think things just went from bad to worse." Ikinai groaned.

 

"You can say that again. That's Fhena, my former owner. A sith lord." Vixi chimed in, her lek'ku twitching nervously at the sound of her former masters voice.

 

"Isn't this just the most darling sight, four baby Jedi and some riff raff." Fhena laughed as she waved her hand dismissively at Ikinai and Vixonous. The sith turned her attention towards Illyse, grabbing the headband that covered her eyes and tearing it from her head. "Oh you won't be needing this."

 

Illyse sat there, trying hard to stay centered and focused, but finding it difficult. Breath, she thought to herself. "No, don't!" She yelled as Ikinai jumped up from her cot at Fhena. With a quick wave of Fhenas hand, Iki flew against the back wall.

 

"This one is mine you pathetic piece of machinery." Fhena said as she grabbed Illyse by the arm and took her from the cell.

 

With the force field back up and the guards gone the girls looked to Ikinai and Vixonous, "Is she going to be alright? Are they gonna bring her back?"

 

"I don't know, but we can't let her go like that, not to one of those things." Ikinai turned to her sister Tatakoo, "Sis, I know it isn't the plan, but, you think you can over ride this cell door? I think if we all work together we can take that sith lord down. Alls I need is one of those blasters and bye-bye sith."

 

Vixi looked at Iki, "You think you can really take out a sith lord?"

 

"Sure, why not? We've still got three Jedi, my sister and Mazzy and you. There's what, four imperial guards, five scientists, around seven or eight Velocity guards and a few dock hands, maybe a harbor master or two and the sith lord Fhena. How hard could that be?"

 

"You've got a plan for this right?" Vixonous arched a brow at Ikinai.

 

"Sure, we take a few blasters, we shoot em and um, shoot some more. See? It's a great plan."

 

"I know I'm going to regret this, and we are totally going to die, but, let's do it." vixonous relented.

 

"How bout it Tata? Think you've got enough in that old chip to knock this field out for a few seconds?"

 

"I think so, but what about these tracking chips? We'll need to disable them fast." Tatakoo said.

 

"Leave that to me. The 'good' doctor is rather sloppy when doing his work on the terminal. I know his codes and I'll get these disabled in no time." Vixonous added.

 

Ikinai walked over near the force field and peered up and down the hall, scanning it for any guards. Seeing only the two guards at the end of the hallway she smiled and looked back at the assembled group of girls. "Mazzy, Tata; once the field is down rush the guards, Mazzy takes the right Tata on left. Vixi and I will jump in after that, with the rest of you following us. We'll take out Mazzy's guard first, so hold off the other guy Tata. We shouldn't be long. Then we'll have ourselves some blasters."

 

Ikinai motioned for everyone to get ready and in place. "Okay sis, let's...oh now what? Why is the general alarm going off?"

 

"Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert! All guards to post. Repeat. Intruder Alert!"

 

"Do it now sis, now, go!"

 

"It takes a bit to get the right frequency sis, it's not like I can just do it at the drop of a hat!"

 

Expectantly Iki watched down the hallway, "Do it do it do it do it, come on, hurry up and do it! Before more guards arrive!"

 

"Shut up! Wait, I think I've got it!"

 

The shield began to sputter, then shut down. "Got it, go go go!"

 

In a mad rush the girls poured into the hallway, not so quietly, in fact quite loudly. Screaming at the guards and running towards them. Completely the antithesis of Ikinais plan. But, what wasn't anticipated was a tiny little Zabrak missile named Nal'tina, hurling herself through the air and landing a quick blow to the guards face. Shocked by the sudden turn of events the guards blaster fell to the floor, where Ikinai picked it up. Pointing it at the other guard she motioned for him to get into the cell they had just vacated. The girls dragged the unconscious guard in to the cell then reactivated the shield.

 

"Two down and who knows how many to go. At least we've got a couple blasters now." She said as she patted Nal'tina on the head, "And we've got this little monster. But first, we've got to get to the lab. Disable the tracking chips and burn the place down. It may not stop the research, but it'll at least slow them down."

 

Nal'tina smiled up at Iki, "Right behind ya boss!"

Edited March 16, 2012 by ikinai