"To Kill An Admiral" - Part 6

Posted on Thu May 28th, 2015 @ 9:27am by

The pounding of her feet against the floor echoed in the dimly lit hallway. She could faint footsteps in the distance growing louder. She kept her breath steady, and her nerves never wavered. Clutching onto the padd she thought, for a moment, about Stern. Most Officers would have tried to fight.

Never leave a man behind she could the voice of her combat training officer in her head. But this was different. Intel was different. Stern would have expected her to run. Her father would have expected her to run. She knew it was the correct line of action.

Her eyes darted around. She mentally replayed the entire map of the building in her head. She knew she stood a better chance outside. Up ahead she saw a woman walking. She slowed her run and approached cautiously.

"Excuse me," she said, taking a deep breath.

The woman eyed her cautiously. "Yes?" she asked. The woman was in her early forties and dressed in what appeared to be a uniform of sorts.

Her eyes looked at the badge on the woman's chest. "An explosion," Elizabeth said. "Imminent in the lower lab. It will send a fireball up through this corridor. Run," she urged.

"What are you talking about?" the woman asked.

"No time, just trust me. Run." She never spoke more, but just sprinted past the woman, but slowed her pace. After a brief moment the woman began to run and soon passed Elizabeth. She slowed her pace to match her steps with the woman's before slipping into a small sub corridor and finding her way into a small, unlit nook. She crouched down and hid as she heard the steps of her pursuer grow closer, and the steps of the employee quicken as she made her way out.

Chesa's trained ears caught the sounds of footsteps and she skidded to a halt. Her dark eyes narrowed. I have you now, she thought, running after them. She felt her heart skip a beat; it had been years since she'd enjoyed having a prey to chase, and this one was turning out to be quite the surprise.

Gohan had warned her that Elizabeth Heyworth was intelligent, but his understanding of the woman had been - clearly - limited. He had relegated her to a sharp mind, nothing more, but it was turning out that he had only scratched the surface. His fear of her grandmother had kept him from learning more. A mistake, but not a critical one, Chesa thought.

As she came around the corner she realized her own mistake. The footsteps were not Elizabeth's. Chesa turned back the way she came and growled. "Damn you," she thought, only the words were not directed at Elizabeth.

After Elizabeth saw Chesa run by, she doubled back quickly to the stairway that led to the south exit and quietly made her way through the corridors. The building was a warren, but she maneuvered it like she'd designed the building herself. She saw the exit and, for a brief moment, considered going through it. Then she was reminded of the woman in the streets. The anger that seethed through her every poor at Elizabeth's sight. She needed to go back.

She turned and headed back towards the Eastern hall. She knew Chesa would know she'd been given the slip. She knew there was only one thing that lay between her and the room she needed to get to.

Chesa.

The assassin banded around the corner and skidded to a halt. Anger - and some measure of amusement - crossed her face as she glared down at Elizabeth. "Damn him for underestimating you," she spat.

"Who?" she asked coolly, seemingly unaffected by Chesa's anger.

Chesa ignored the question. "Give me the datapadd," she said. "I need you to understand that you do not want to drag this out; the longer you do the worse it is going to be for you."

"You don't learn quickly, do you?" countered Elizabeth.

Chesa smiled. This girl was beginning to get on her nerves. She ran forward, fully intent on taking her head on; Elizabeth would have a difficult time in a direct fight, and Chesa intended on pushing her advantage.

Elizabeth dodged quickly to the side at the last minute and began to run once more. "You don't move quickly either," she goaded as she ran, her pace slower than before, but steady.

Chesa was on her heels tight; she wouldn't let the young woman slip away. "You really are trapped," she hissed. "No way off of this rock for you or Bram!"

So he's a alive she though to herself. "So what?" she shouted over her shoulder, "As Gohan's lackie your job is to detain me, and what?" she goaded, "give me dirty looks? You'll need to catch me first." She sped up slightly, still not running her full speed. She'd started running in her teens to lose weight. She became good at it. Very good.

Chesa shook her head and increased her own speed. The long corridor was coming to an end and as it did the bright whiteness of outside swallowed the two female figures. A side-road met them as they leapt across the grassy field that wrapped around the massive Atheneum. Along the street were tall buildings, and around those small shops and throngs of people. Chesa cursed inwardly; she wasn't overly concerned about losing track of Heyworth, but she could lose precious time if she had to hunt for her too hard. She wanted to have this wrapped up and done before Damian returned from his meeting.

The streets were busy and the smell of dust hung deep in the air. Over time she knew it would affect her breathing, and that of the woman chasing her down. In the distance she could hear the faint sound of beating drums. Her brow lifted and she quickly turned in the direction of the sound. She looked over her shoulder to ensure Chesa was still on her trail. She didn't want to lose her. Not yet. She looked around. Her memory of the map played in her mind like a film reel. She made a turn towards an alley. Just as I thought. As she ran down the alley she was confronted by a wire fence that separated the alley in two.

She stopped, heaving her chest as though she was out of breath. She held her hands up defensively. "Why are you doing this?" she asked softly.

Chesa paused. She was out of uniform; she knew that Heyworth would struggle if she went much further. Had Heyworth realized that too? While there was peace with Starfleet here, the people were incensed by recent events. Anger swelled, and already people had noticed her uniform. Chesa shrugged. "I do it because it is my job," she said. "I do it because I enjoy it. I could list any number of reasons for you; money, thrill, because he asked me to. What answer are you looking for? I've no grand reasoning behind my actions like the Admiral has."

"And his are?" she asked, pressing. "What does he want with my father? Stern?"

"Bram is just a pawn. Damian doesn't care about him," she said. "But your father does. Your father loves Ibraham like a brother." As she spoke she began to slowly make her way to the left, swinging a wide arc around Heyworth. "Ibraham is dying, and that tears at your father. As for the rest..." She shrugged. The big picture stuff she left to her brother and his scheming. She knew he was devising a very specific set of events; events that, if executed properly, would allow him to climb into the position of power he desired.

Elizabeth didn't move, but looked defeated. She peered at Chesa. "The rest...?" she prompted.

Chesa grinned. The girl was pumping her for information. Clever little bitch, she thought. Heyworth looked tired, beaten, and ready to give up, but Chesa knew better.

She leapt forward offensively, reaching out to grab her prey and tackle her to the ground.

Elizabeth moved quickly, once again dodging her attacker. She leapt up and grabbed the fence, deftly swinging her leg around to thrust against Chesa's forward motion, using Chesa's own body against her to push her backwards as Elizabeth easily scaled up the fence to catapult herself to the other side. She paused for just a brief second to loft a quizzical brow, her face unemotional as she looked plainly at her attacker before turning to run once more. She knew Chesa would not be far behind.