Of Men and Spiders

Eric watched as the wave of alien bugs swept aside any resistance the station had to offer. Though, to be fair, the station had never been meant to stand alone against any attack. It was an older core civilian model repurposed as a trading hub. All the station's "teeth" were the guard ships and their crews. Hypothetically, once the Raven's Roost returned, it could send some reinforcements to clear out the attackers, but they were still a long way away, and for now, the station was on its own.

At first, a few pirate crews had come out spoiling for a fight, but they'd retreated quickly once they'd gotten a good look at the attackers. Even the combat suits had fallen surprisingly fast, although the handful of older combat suits they had on board had only ever been used to break up bar fights between some of the station's more...rowdy patrons and hadn't seen any actual combat since they'd first been assigned to the station.

So now, Eric sat in the place he'd once thought of as the station's command hub. There were a few staff members with him, but at this point, they seemed content to just lock the door and hope for the best. Not that Eric was any better. He had no idea how to handle this situation. He was an information broker turned numbers guy. He barely knew how to fire a gun, much less repel an invasion! So, without much hope, Eric sat huddled in the command hub, watching as the aliens seemed to be cutting a path for Lucy and her friend through the last of the station's defenses right to the final door, separating him from the carnage outside. Then, in a moment of pure absurdity, there was a knock on the door.

Eric looked at some of the staff, who looked back at him, expecting him to have the answer. There'd be no help there. A breath later, there was a second, more insistent knock. Unsure of what to do other than maybe buy some time, though he knew there was no way to buy enough, Eric keyed the com. "Ummm, this area is off-limits. Please leave!" He was proud to note his voice barely wavered.

He watched as Lucy leaned in toward the comm and responded. "Yeah, this might surprise you, but I'm not really concerned about where you say I can and can't go. Now, I'm gonna give you two options. You can open this door and let me in, or I can turn this door into a crater, possibly killing everyone inside with the explosion. Your choice."

Well, not that he'd expected any different, but that wasn't really something Eric wanted to hear. "Well, how is that better than if I let you in here and your weird alien friends kill and eat us?"

Lucy sighed. "Listen, I know everything is scary and chaotic right now, but if you'd been paying attention, you'd notice my friends have only been going after people shooting or otherwise making a nuisance of themselves. So here's the deal, let us in, don't do anything stupid, and you get to live long enough to get demoted or whatever. Or you can keep this door locked and die once we break in. Also, that's all the stalling you get. If this door isn't unlocked in ten seconds, I assume you mean to resist, and you will die. The timer starts now."

Of course, Lucy quickly put action to words and started mounting what looked to be a bomb on the outside of the door. Realizing he was basically playing poker with a handful of uno cards, Eric gave in and unlocked the door, hoping by some miracle this insane woman sieging the station would actually keep her word.

As she walked into the room, Lucy cut quite the figure, with one gun raised at the ready and the other pointed right at Eric. She motioned with the raised gun toward the other workers. "Alright, everyone in the corner where Charlotte can keep one of her many eyes on you lot!"

As Eric moved to comply, Lucy fixed him with a gaze. "Not you. You get to help me access the system to get what I want."

Eric started to protest even though he knew it probably wouldn't get him anywhere. "But I thought you said all I had to do was let you in!"

Lucy walked right up to him, the barrel of the gun she had pointed in his face looking larger than life as she spoke. "I said let us in and don't do anything stupid. Now tell me, does defying the woman holding a gun pointed at your face sound smart or stupid to you?"

She was right, but still. "But if I give you access to the system..."

Lucy cut him off. "One of three things will happen. My father will be in an understanding mood, and you'll be fine, or you'll be demoted and sent off to a station in the middle of nowhere to do a painfully dull job, or maybe you'll catch him on a bad day, and he'll just put a bullet through your head."

She stepped forward and put a boot up on the chair Eric was seated in, directly between his legs, though he barely noticed because most of his attention was focused on what Lucy was saying, as well as the gun inches from his face. "Now, let me give you an idea of what will happen if you don't do as I say. It will start with me prying out your fingernails one by one. At some point, you'll give me what I want anyway. Then, it'll end with my friend Charlotte consuming you to restore some of her lost biomass from this attack."

Eric had to admit that she made a convincing argument. "Uh, yeah... What systems did you want access to?"

Lucy's grin did little to calm Eric's nerves.

-

As Dax checked his gear for the third time, his commander reviewed their plan while holding up a data slate. "We're going in for a smash and grab. We're looking for this individual." An image of a woman with striking red hair popped up on the screen. "The station is overrun by something described as bug-like aliens. We have little information on the enemy's capabilities other than they are extremely dangerous. They've swiftly wiped out the base defenses, including everyone in a combat suit. If it is not human, kill it with extreme prejudice. Assume all corpses are still a threat. Be thorough and watch each other's backs. If any of you idiots are stupid enough to get yourselves killed, I will make it my goal to bring you back to life so I can personally kill you a second time. Are there any questions?"

One of the new guys raised his hands. "Um, yeah, what do you mean by alien bugs? Like a bunch of beetles are loose on the ship or something?"

The commander rounded on the man in question. "What part of 'alien' is your brain not processing? They are not human. Ergo, if you see something that is not human, you kill it! Do you understand or need me to draw you a picture?"

It looked like the man was seriously considering how to answer, and Dax wondered just what orifice he'd find that picture shoved up when Thane spoke up. "What about our target? Who is she? What kind of a threat does she pose?"

Being asked an intelligent question seemed to cool the commander's temper slightly as he turned to answer. "She is considered to pose an extreme threat but is to be treated like an unwilling VIP. Subdue her without any serious damage. That means no lost limbs, no cracked skulls, and no poison. Besides that, do what you must to get her on the ship alive and extract her." Then, almost as an afterthought, he added, "Also, do your best to stay on her good side while you're kidnapping her. From what I hear, she might be our boss someday, and it would be in your best interest for her not to bear you a grudge."

That last bit confused the hell out of Dax. She might be their boss someday? What the hell was happening here? Double checking he had some stun rounds on hand that were clearly labeled, Dax decided he didn't need to worry about that. He just had to do the job and get paid, and there's a reason they were paid so much more than most of the grunts that worked for Drake.

-

Lucy smiled as she got the information she wanted. Sure, some of it was still encrypted, but a decent tech guy could handle that with enough time and patience. She got the actual info. The rest would be someone else's problem. She uploaded the information and sent it off to Roberts, then turned and faced the guy looking at Charlotte like he was just about ready to break and run. "You've been wonderful hosts, but it's time for us to take our leave. As promised, you get to live. However, I can't have you making any trouble for us as we leave, so Charlotte, please knock them out."

Charlotte nodded, and a few of her appendages moved in and bit the people, knocking them unconscious. A few tried to scream or run, but it didn't do them much good. It was clear no one present was really the fighting type.

That done, Lucy turned to leave. Everything had gone smoothly so far, but that just meant it was probably past time for her luck to change...