Work Text:
Senna knew where the last military base of the Old Empire was. What was left of it anyway. Jovar had the know-how to hijack a transport vessel from Terra, so Adira plotted a course to get them to the outpost. Maybe they could build it back up again.
There was still the problem of that Orion getting too big for her boots.
The base was little more than space junk that no one had claimed yet, so Adira saw fit to take it for themself. Kasha noted how old it seemed – they dismissed that with the insistence that they’d make it functional again, despite Cara’s apprehension.
“Shut up, all of you!” Adira hissed, getting increasingly agitated at their mutterings. It wouldn’t do them any good in the future to let them continue undermining their authority as current host. Perhaps a new contingency plan was in order…
The systems were (miraculously) still partly functional, but the computer voice was glitched beyond all recognition, there wasn’t any programmable matter to be seen, and most of the displays were broken. With the lack of lighting in the place, Adira had to stick with just their personal torch to get around. They’d always been up for a challenge and this was certainly a big one.
It took weeks of hard work to get the systems they needed fully operational, only slightly impeded by previous hosts getting in the way until Adira found a way to suppress their chattering. It turned out to be a rather effective threat as well when they found out that suppressing the hosts for long enough could potentially mute them forever in the memory of Tal. Adira had always known that their will was strong, but it was a pleasant surprise to find that they could affect Tal so strongly from the forced joining. Getting some quiet was nice after all the whisperings in their head that had been rattling around while they worked. Only Gray had been silent the whole time. ‘Good,’ Adira thought with a satisfied smirk, ‘I don’t have time for smarmy optimism.’
The base being up and running again must have rippled through deep space comms because not too long after Adira had got settled did the proximity alarms go off. The sound was warped from the age of the speakers, but it got the message across and Adira shut them off quickly. Someone was at the station.
A station with malfunctioning agonizers.
They grinned to themself and began a slow sweep of the station, small enough to crawl through vents and hide in dark corners whenever an Orion came by. They had a device on them to control the doors and slowly lured the invading party through to one of the agonizer rooms. Adira knew that another group would come looking when the first didn’t come back.
It took a few days for the leader of the ‘Emerald Chain’ to finally make contact, allowing Adira to upgrade the booths to a greater pain efficiency and locate some interesting weapons in the armoury. The holo-whip looked quite fun. They knew when Osyraa beamed in because she was wearing different shoes. It was difficult to get her on her own with how tightly her security was circled around her, but Adira was nothing if not determined. A few distorted distress call recordings, flickering lights, broken doors, and some strange scratching sounds that they made with a torn metal plate dragged against the walls, and the Orions were suitably skittish. It made the perfect distraction for Adira to knock a few guards out with well-placed knife throws and firing the few phasers they’d found that still could work at the max setting without frying. Soon enough, it was just Adira, Osyraa and a couple of extra Orions that were quickly dispatched with a flick of the holo-whip.
“So it’s you that was taking down my guards. Very impressive for someone so small.”
Adira didn’t return Osyraa’s smile, instead narrowing their eyes and brandishing the whip again. “I’ll kill you too, just so you know.”
“Why do that when we could work together? We could be a powerful team.”
This time, Adira smirked, and they could see the way Osyraa’s eyes lit up at the thought that she had them. They could play along with that.
“Powerful?” they asked, adopting an intrigued tone at the proposition.
“Yes. That’s what you want, isn’t it? To be on top of everyone else?” Adira nodded once and Osyraa’s grin sharpened. “Then join me and we can rule this sector of space together. You’re a feisty one and I like that.”
If it had been a compliment from another Terran, they might have accepted it had it not sounded so childish.
“There’s just one thing I want to know…” Adira said, stepping into dangerous territory when they moved closer to Osyraa. Her hand was resting on the phaser at her hip, so Adira had to be careful not to get themself killed in the process. “What do I get out of this?”
“…Power, like I said.” Osyraa replied, confused. Adira just shook their head pityingly.
“I mean, working with you. What do I get out of working with an Orion?” Their smirk now bordered on dangerous and Adira made direct eye contact with the Emerald Chain leader, watching the way she brought her guard up and checked the grip the young Terran had on the whip.
“Access to the largest source of dilithium this side of the quadrant, ships and weapons, and enough engineers to have this little station of yours up and running in a few weeks.”
“I could find engineers anywhere, why are yours so special?”
Osyraa had the gall to smirk at them. Adira was absolutely going to enjoy wiping her stupid head from her even stupider face. “They can’t say no.”
“Really? Well, unfortunately for you, I can say no. So….no.”
If Osyraa was stunned by the brazen reply, she didn’t make it obvious. “Why not?”
“You’re Orion,” they scoffed in reply, internally recoiling at the woman’s obliviousness. “I can’t possibly work with you.”
“Then you’ll have to work against me.” The silly pretend game of friendship finally dropped from Osyraa’s face and Adira could finally feel themself starting to enjoy this. The predatory look on their face seemingly unsettled the Orion, but before she could take her phaser out Adira had whipped the thing away. The holo-laser crackled against Osyraa’s hand, burning the skin enough to blister and swell, causing her to shout with pain and stumble as she cradled the injured hand against her chest.
“Rule Number 1: Never show weakness.” Adira said calmly, stepping into Osyraa’s personal space now that their opponent was defenceless. “I think you’ll find it is you that will have to work against me. Not that I want to have anything to do with you in the first place, but I could use a bargaining chip.” Adira then swept Osyraa’s legs from under her, sending her crashing to the ground, and then lowered the power on the holo-whip so that it wouldn’t immediately kill the Orion to wrap it around her waist. They relished the fresh bolt of pain that came through their gloves when handling the live laser, the sharpness searing clarity into their brain.
The benefit of having several past hosts was that Adira could use the knowledge they had to their advantage. They were already adept at engineering and science pursuits, but they now had greater scope on the ins and outs of certain devices. To make sure that Osyraa didn’t try to escape while they moved an agonizer to the main control room, Adira had connected the controls of the holo-whip to an old communicator and was using it to periodically raise the power of the weapon. The time held changed, as did the time between breaks, so Osyraa really had no way of knowing when the next surge would come and how long it would last. All she could do was watch as Adira plugged the booth in. It whirred to life, buzzing ominously and lit up in red. She’d never really liked the colour red. It was when she saw Adira’s face through the blur of pained tears that she knew she wasn’t going to leave here alive.
They were in awe of the machine, a manic light in their eyes and in the grin that pulled their expression into one of sadistic amusement. Osyraa knew Adira would enjoy this, and while she couldn’t exactly say she hadn’t enjoyed the odd torture session, they were always quick and she wasn’t the one to enact the actual torture itself. This was…terrifying. Adira ignored the whimpered pleas, wrangling the struggling woman into the booth after a couple of attempts – they’d have to work on their strength – and turning it on. Osyraa couldn’t even try to hold back her screaming, not after the holo-whip, and Adira had to laugh.
This machine was incredible! They didn’t care if the symbiont squirmed or the hosts got antsy about it, this was their moment and they’d enjoy it how they wanted.
“This agonizer is faulty,” they said, raising their voice over the screams, “I’m afraid it might be quite a while before I can get you out.”
Threats from the Emerald Chain would be of no issue now, especially when they were going to knock it down from the inside. Death was too kind a punishment to a woman so brash. Adira’s laughter continued – when they control the Chain, they would then move to control other factions too and build up the re-emergence of the once feared and mighty Terran Empire. Adira could make a New Empire and they would be there at the very top of it.