Betrayal and Escape

[Sarath Crescent]

The Monoceros sat peacefully in her hidden valley, the ships exterior glinting in the mid afternoon sun. On the bridge the ships captain was pacing back and forth with a semi bored expression on his face. Since the shuttles had left nothing had happened. There hadn't been any communications either...but no news was normally good news.

"Report status," he said quickly, coming to an abrupt stop in the middle of the bridge.

"All stations report green sir," came a reply, "Repairs are still being undertaken on several secondary systems."

The captain nodded and resumed his pacing for a moment. Just then a small bleeping noise caught his ear. He turned towards the sound, the noise coming from a nearby console. "Problem?"

"Don't think so sir, we just had a momentary flicker in the security system. Looks like it rebooted with no problems though."

"Good, I don't want to loose security, his Lordship wouldn't be very forgiving of that. Just to be safe run a full system check and defrag the security grid."

The console operator turned and gave a small nod before returning to his monitor.

[Celes Islay]

Celes sat curled up at the bottom of her isolation cell. She couldn't remember how long she'd been here now, there was nothing to track the passage of time...no clock...no sun...nothing. She could feel herself slowly going crazy, the endless silence and boredom beginning to gnaw at her sanity. The only thing that gave her sense of the passage of time was the delivery of her food. Lowered from the ceiling on a mechanical arm it was the only break to the silence she had known since she was left here. The first time it had appeared she had tried to climb up it but had quickly discovered that the arm had been electrically charged. Now she simply watched as it deposited her meal and left the cell.

"Why?" The question had been running through her mind for some time now. "Why was she here? Why was this happening to her?" She had thought a lot about her parents, did they know that she had vanished? What were they doing? Cell let a small sigh escape her lips as she continued to stare at the floor.

Just then a small chime sounded and a mechanical clunk echoed around the cell. Cell looked up at the arm above her moved down through its hatch and deposited her meal on the floor near to her. She watched the arm move away and then looked at her tray. After a moment she blinked, raising her head properly and rubbing her eyes.

It wasn't food on the tray! She couldn't believe it! It was her personal belongings! Scrambling to her feet Cell quickly launched herself at the items on the tray. It was all there, the pocket tech bracelets containing her weapons, the heel clip containing her board, her computer and her bag with everything else in it.

For a moment Cell just sat in awe at the sight before her. What was going on? Why were they giving her things back to her? Her questions were quickly shifted aside as another sound echoed around the cell. Looking up she saw that the door high above her was now open, light glinting in from the corridor beyond.

Was this some sort of trap? The start of a cruel game for their amusement? Whatever it was Cell now had the means and the way to escape! Whatever awaited her she had to try, it was better than sitting here waiting for death!

[Sarath Crescent]

"...S-SIR! We have a problem!" cried one of the bridge operators.

"What is it?" replied the captain as he turned in his seat.

"The main security system just shut down! We have security failures on all decks! Cell blocks have opened...emergency containment grids are down. We've lost internal scanners and airtight bulkheads have sealed!"

For a moment the captain couldn't even speak. He couldn't have heard that correctly...could he? "What do you mean the security system has shut down?!"

"Sir! When we began the defrag sequence the entire security system went into its default safe guard mode and reset all systems. We tried reinitialising the grid but all of our access codes are being rejected!"

"Rejected? What could be causing that. Patch controls to my console!"

Spinning to his own computer the captain quickly began tapping commands into it. Whatever he input the same message was displayed, rejected. Slamming his hands down on the console and looked up, "What's going on?!"

"Sir I might have a cause of the problem! The system shows that all our commands are correct but they are being systematically ignored!"

The captain looked up at the ceiling. A small metal dome occupied the centre of the bridge blinking with lights. "MOTHER what is going on? Why are you rejecting security codes?"

"All security codes have been deemed invalid," replied a computer voice, "Security override programmed and accepted. All users will now be locked out."

"Override? Who gave the override command?!"

"Override command supplied by user number 001-003-ICC, Lefina Milo."

"...WHAT?! Do we still have comms? Get me a signal to Lord Sarath immediately!"

[Celes Islay]

As the commotion reigned on the bridge Cell had wasted no time in initiating her escape. Taking a moment to secure her equipment she had expanded her board and jumped on it. The door was a good few meters above her, not a distance she could climb but with her board she didn't have to. She bent her knees, curling herself up like a spring as a bed of charged particles began to form around her.

A whine filled the air and a moment later a static crack sounded as the charge detonated. The force threw her upwards, Cell aiming herself for the lip of the doorway. She flipped over, catching the lip in both hands and throwing herself over the edge and into the corridor beyond. As her board stabilised she uncurled, standing tall on her board as she activated her guns and fired two shots. The shots hit the wall, punching straight through thin metal coating and searing the wires behind.

Cell grinned to herself and then shot down the corridor. She was heading out and off this bucket of bolts...but not without frying as much as she could before she left.