Starship Armstrong - Season 3

Part 37 - Family Ties (XV)

"What the hell are you?" Delili screamed so loud she started to go hoarse. She wasn't sobbing but there were tears in her eyes.

Mitzner ignored her. She shot out the barrels of the two particle rifles on the ground and then went over to check on McAfree. She still had a pulse but she was pretty recently stunned. Her face was just as much of a mess as it had been in the video and she had obviously been crying.

Mitzner withdrew a knife from the sleeve of her ruined dress and cut McAfree's bonds. This unbalanced her so Mitzner laid her down on her side, away from the blood that was almost everywhere.

Gar just stared at what remained of Azar's body in its rapidly growing pool of blood. Hastoyar babbled incoherently from the floor, clutching his leg.

"You," said Mitzner, motioning to Delili with her pistol. "Go tie off his leg before he bleeds out."

Delili ran over to Hastoyar obediently. Gar looked up for the first time.

"There might be a medkit in the- the- the foyer," he stammered.

"I'll go look," said Mitzner, walking over to Azar's body and picking up his stungun in her other hand. Some of his blood dripped off it. "I should check on the welcoming party anyway."

She started to leave, then turned back around.

"No more second chances everyone. If I have to shoot anyone again I'm aiming to kill."

Mitzner walked back into the room Gar had called the 'foyer'. Broken leg guy was still on the floor freaking out. She stunned him and he fell limp. Head injury guy was in the fencing response. He probably had a concussion. Mitzner supposed he didn't need a stun.

Then Mitzner heard it. She turned to look back at the space/time tunnel and it was already closing.

"No!" shouted Mitzner, who dropped the stungun as she sprinted back into the other room to grab McAfree.

Mitzner barreled through the door, pushed Delili out of the way, and grabbed McAfree. She hauled her over her shoulders in the fireman's carry and ran back to the foyer as fast as she could. The last few lights of the tunnel were winking out just as Mitzner arrived.

That's what I get for trying to be a better person and letting the engineer live.

"Touche, old Zarah," she said out loud. "Touche."

Mitzner put McAfree back down in a laying position. She began to poke around the room she was in. There wasn't much there to look through. She quickly found a medkit in an open supply crate.

She didn't see any more weapons anywhere. That was weird. These people had been heavily armed when they attacked the party. Where would they store their hardware if not in this incredibly well hidden safehouse?

Mitzner brought the medkit back to the other room. Delili and Gar were on the ground, hands covered in blood, and a makeshift tourniquet had been applied to Hastoyar's leg. They both looked up as Mitzner entered.

"Catch," said Mitzner, and threw the kit to Delili. She caught it with terrorized energy.

"Bad news children," said Mitzner with a smile. "You're stuck in here with me."

She went back to the foyer and squatted down beside McAfree. Mitzner looked over at McAfree, still unconscious but breathing steadily. She let out a long sigh.

"Well," said Mitzner, "at least you didn't have to wear a dress this time."