Sable's Experiences

[Toaster]

July 21, 827 A.S.

Olivia breathed hard as she slowly lowered the rifle from her shoulder. She felt dizzy and completely exhausted; her lungs ached and her throat felt like she had swallowed a cup of gravel. The pounding of her heart almost drowned out the pounding of the machinery around her.

She looked down at her target. His outstretched arm now lay limp on the deck, a pool of blood slowly expanding around it. His face was gone, shattered by the bullet's impact. Olivia shuddered. Despite her years of mercenary work, she had never gotten quite used to the sight of maimed corpses.

But the job was done. Juan Perno was dead, the kill recorded for Pedro's viewing pleasure. Olivia reached up to her chest and detached the small camera from her flightsuit. She stared at it and could feel herself get sick at the thought of her employer enjoying the footage. She tucked it into a pocket. The job was done.

Well, almost. She still had to hide the body and get off the station, which wouldn't be so easy now that she looked like she had been beaten to a pulp, blood splattered over her face and clothing. She sighed. Working for Pedro was never simple.

Still in a bit of a daze, Olivia glanced down the corridor. Three men stood at the far end. She stared at them. They stared at her. One of them was huge, built like a battlecruiser and looked extremely angry. One was lean and tall, dressed in a nice suit, his hair grey with age. He looked displeased. The third was short and plump, pointing at her and shouting something she couldn't understand over the noise of the machinery.

The large man started shambling down the hallway towards her.

"Oh," Olivia muttered upon realization. "Shit."

Instinctively, she raised her rifle again, aiming down the corridor at the advancing figure. She hesitated, her finger hovering over the trigger. If she stayed and fought, she would have to take out all three of them. She'd have to hide four bodies, one of which was most likely too heavy for her to even move - especially in her exhausted state. And she would have to manage all that without anyone else stumbling upon her. She lowered the weapon again. The man's slow lumber sped up.

"Shit," she repeated, turned, and ran the other way, towards the elevators whence Perno had come.

Every part of her body hurt as she sprinted towards the lifts, her lungs screaming at her to slow down and catch her breath, her right shoulder aching with every swing of the arm. But there was no slowing down now. Even through the constant vibration caused by the heavy machinery all around her, Olivia could feel the giant's heavy footfalls behind her reverberate through the deck as he charged into a full on sprint. The elevators were still a good thirty meters ahead of her. As she approached, however, she noticed a slight problem. The doors to the shafts were open, but there were no lifts waiting inside.

Fuck, she cursed as her mind raced to find another way out. There were no intersections, no corners she could turn to run down another corridor. She could feel her pursuer closing in on her from behind. Fuck, she cursed again and charged at the empty elevator shaft in front of her. With all the force her legs could still offer, she leapt into the empty space. Midair, she tucked her legs in in front of her and braced for impact against the far wall of the shaft. She hit it, hard, knocking out what little air was left in her lungs. For a split second, Olivia was glued to it. Then she kicked out her legs with every ounce of her remaining strength, and launched herself up off the wall.

For once, luck seemed to be on her side. The doors on the deck above her were also open, leading out onto another level of the station. Olivia twisted her body around midair and reached out with her arms as she fell towards the ledge above. With another breathtaking impact, she crashed into the opposite wall of the shaft, dangling from the threshold of the open doors. Her arms quaked as she slowly dragged her body upwards.

Olivia glanced down the shaft. Below her, her pursuer's head poked out into the abyss, looking first down, then up. Angry eyes glared at her as she scrambled onto the deck above. Completely exhausted, she collapsed to the metal floor, rolling onto her back. She gasped for breath as sweat and tears ran down the sides of her face. There she lay for a moment, before realizing that she wasn't alone. She tilted her head from side to side, only to see half a dozen men and women stand around her, surprised looks plastered on their faces.

She was on a habitation deck. A second later, klaxons started blaring across the level.

"God damn it," Olivia growled as she unsteadily got to her feet, staring at the people around her, her face wild. Two men cautiously approached her, hands raised in front of them. She couldn't tell whether they wanted to help her or detain her. So she ran. Her legs protested with every step, her chest feeling like it was about to explode. But she couldn't stop now. She had to get to her ship and off the station.

Olivia could sense the men and women behind coming after her. The hallway ahead was filled with more of Ames' inhabitants, heads poking out from open doors as they wondered what the sirens were about. They stared at her in shock as she ran and stumbled past them.

An intersection was coming up ahead of her. She tried to remember the layout of the station she had studied before coming down to the engineering decks - tried to remember which path led back to the hangar bays. But her mind was jumbled, pain and fatigue drowning out any coherent thoughts she tried to form. Too late, she noticed the two figures turning the corner in front of her. One short, fat man. One lean man in a suit. The latter raised a gun at her.

The bullet tore through Olivia's right shoulder, the impact sending her reeling backwards. Shocked, she tripped and sprawled to the deck. She convulsed as unbearably sharp pain shot through her arm and torso. Too little air left in her lungs to scream, she instead only let out quiet gasps of agony. Through tear filled eyes, Olivia could see the two men slowly approaching her. Clutching her bloodied shoulder with her left hand, she struggled onto her knees, whipping her head back and forth, up and down the corridor, looking for an escape. All around her, inhabitants of the station stood pressed up against the walls, staring with shocked and frightened faces.

Her eyes landed on a closed door, just to her right. She lunged at it, reaching out with her injured arm, slamming her fist into the button beside it to open it. It lit up red at her touch. The door remained shut.

Falling to her knees again before it, Olivia hung her head in defeat.

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Olivia Sable