Winterborn stepped forward, her hands splayed to the sides in a warding gesture. "Don''t do anything you might regret. If you kill her, you won''t be leaving this ship alive."


    The thing which wore Commander Springborn''s face smiled, rotating its hostage to be directly in the path of the Quin''tel weapons. "I know that, Captain, I just need a bit of leverage. I know how fond you are of Rosa here." The Ven licked Fallborn''s cheek while staring Winterborn dead in the eyes.


    "I swear to God," whispered Winterborn, "If you harm one hair on her head, I''ll kill you myself."


    The Quin''tel Captain stood at Winterborn''s side, he spoke to her softly, "We can wound the Ven if you allow us to fire through the hostage. The information the creature could reveal to us under interrogation could be invaluable. I request permission to fire, Prime."


    Winterborn sagged under the weight of the situation, "No. Don''t fire unless I give the direct order. We can''t risk getting Rosa killed."


    The Ven smiled broadly, showing a disturbing, perverse pleasure in the situation. "Now," it said, "move away from the door and prepare a shuttle for me. If I see signs of sabotage or bad faith, I will kill your lover."


    Winterborn waved to the Quin''tel pointing weapons at the Ven, "Clear the path, nobody fire without my direct command."


    The Quin''tel obeyed reluctantly, stepping away from the door and lowering their weapons. The Quin''tel Captain whispered as they cleared the door, "Forgive my impertinence, Prime, but you are making a grave mistake. Don''t let personal feelings interfere with practical decisions."


    "I know what I''m doing, Captain," whispered Winterborn through clenched teeth. She tapped into her comm system, "Prepare shuttle three for departure. Clear a route to the ship. I don''t want any personnel anywhere near that route."


    "Affirmative, Captain. Clearing a path now," reported Ava.


    Winterborn watched as Rosa was dragged into the corridor. For the first time, she understood exactly what it was to want to personally kill another living creature.


    As the Ven dragged Fallborn into the hall, Winterborn tapped into the ships cameras to watch their progress.


    She waited a moment, watching the Ven''s progress through the ship. She ordered security forces to rush to establish multiple firing angles in the shuttle bay. With the way the bay was built, there were several firing angles which could be utilized—if they setup in the correct locations, at least one officer should have a safe angle to fire no matter where Rosa was being held. Winterborn sent a message to Rosa, reading: ''Do not resist when you enter the shuttle bay. We will have sharpshooters prepared, we don''t want any sudden movement.''


    Rosa read the message and sagged in relief. This prompted a sharp jerk from the alien that was dragging her. Rosa winced in pain, feeling the joints in her neck popping. The knowledge that a plan was in place was more of a comfort to her than she could have imagined. Truth be told, though, she hadn''t really planned to struggle—she had tried plenty hard as soon as the Doctor—the Ven—had grabbed her, and she knew just how strong it was. She wasn''t sure if the special forces soldiers from Terra would have been able to break their way free from the creature. No, she''d already given up on resisting.


    Even with the plan in place, fear thrummed through her heart like a drumbeat. She couldn''t help but imagine a thousand scenarios where the plan went awry—the sharpshooter missed and shot her instead, the Ven evaded the shots and stole away with her in the shuttle, the Ven was shot, but managed to snap her neck in the process...she shuddered at the myriad of ways this could go wrong.


    Needing to distract herself more than anything, she resorted to trying to learn something, anything, from her captor. "Why are you doing this? What did we ever do to you or your people?"


    The doctor''s face smiled and spoke like it was addressing a toddler, "Silly girl, I don''t have anything against you, personally. Your people are little different than any other species. I do this for the profit of my world. This is just business."


    Rosa winced as they rounded another corner, the Ven leading with her body, taking in every detail of the hall before moving forward. "Can you tell me who hired you? Or is that against some kind of code of honor or something?"


    A laugh as clear as a bell sounded from the Ven, "No. We can''t disclose a client''s identity to a third party. I appreciate the attempt, girl."


    They rounded the final bend leading to shuttle bay three, the Ven picking up speed as it walked, effectively carrying Rosa''s mostly-limp body along. She palmed the door open, ducking behind Rosa and pushing her slowly into the open room. Rosa was hoping for a shot to take the Ven out as soon as they cleared the threshold, but was quickly disappointed. As far as she could tell, none of the security forces had made their way into the shuttle bay at all—that was until she saw a slight shimmer in the air on top of one of the air vents. She had to keep herself from smiling—the security forces had made it into position after all.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    The Ven picked up pace, pushing Fallborn forward at nearly a run. Just as they were about to reach the shuttle, she heard a voice in her neural implant, "I love you, Rosa. Good luck."


    The sound of a firing rifle split the air. Time seemed to move in slow motion—the Ven''s head turned towards the source of the sound, the creature seeming to move at standard speed against the backdrop of the world in slow motion. Rosa felt absolute horror as the creature gripped her chin, wrenching to the side with vicious strength. The sound of her neck snapping sounded like a crack of lightning on a quiet night.


    The last thing Rosa heard before losing consciousness was the wet sound of a bullet splitting the skull of the Ven. She managed to smile, knowing that the thing that killed her wouldn''t live to gloat over her body.


    Winterborn watched the visual feed in horror as Rosa and the Ven collapsed to the ground. Time seemed to slow; her blood ran cold, and she felt as though the world had been brought down on her shoulders. She managed to collect just enough of her wits to order a medical team to the shuttle bay, "We have an officer down, neck injury, report to shuttle bay three." It pained her, but she had to be careful, "Wait for security personnel to verify that the intruder is incapacitated before entering—we can''t risk further casualties."


    The Quin''tel Captain stepped forward, and seemed to be about to speak, before Winterborn raised a hand and said, "I''m sorry, I need to check on my...my officer. Please wait here, I''ll be back to meet with you soon."


    Winterborn hurried out of the conference room, nearly running for the shuttle bay. She arrived, nearly breathless from the emotional storm which raged inside her. She saw medical staff crowded around the large, steel-grey door. She could see her own concern mirrored on their faces. She walked up to the Lieutenant on duty, wringing her hands unconsciously.


    "Lieutenant Johanna, do everything you can to keep Rosa alive. I don''t care if you have to wrestle the Devil himself. You got me?"


    The Lieutenant looked to be no older than twenty, but there was steel in her amber eyes. "Yes, Sir. He''ll not take her away from her duty on this ship."


    Winterborn nodded, her spirits bolstered slightly by the confidence of the woman. The door slid open, heavily-armed security officers flanking the door. The medical team rushed into the room, medical scanners in hand.


    Winterborn watched in a state of rigid calm which her training told her was shock. The medical staff scanned Rosa''s twisted neck, ascertaining the severity of her injury. Time slowed to a standstill as she waited for the diagnosis—to find out whether or not Rosa would survive.


    "She''s suffered a break in her C3 and C4 vertebrae, breathing has stopped. Apply a N.U.R.S.E. to assist with breathing and maintaining other vitals." They pulled a jacket-like item from their medical kit, first placing a support brace around Rosa''s neck to keep the neck from moving, then securing her into the device. Winterborn recalled that the N.U.R.S.E. worked by manually stimulating the lungs and using electrical impulses to ensure the heart continued to function.


    Winterborn hissed out a breath she hadn''t realized she''d been holding as they announced that Rosa was still alive, and that there was a chance she would make it out of this situation.


    "Let''s get her to med bay—she seems stable for now, but we need more advanced facilities to keep her that way," the Lieutenant organized her team like a seasoned officer of double her years. Winterborn decided to keep her in mind for the new position which had just opened up.


    Winterborn walked up to Fallborn as she was loaded into a medical gurney, and grabbed her hand. She followed along with the medical team, nearly jogging to keep up. "I''m not going to let you go, Rosa. I love you. You aren''t going to die."


    Shortly, they arrived in the medical bay. Rosa was set on the medical table, the N.U.R.S.E. still pumping away, keeping the spark of life alive like a bellows to the flame. Lieutenant Johanna grabbed her shoulder in a comforting grip. "We''ll take it from here, Captain. We''re going to need the med bay clear for surgery. I''m sorry."


    Winterborn thought about arguing, but dismissed the idea. They would be able to better care for Rosa without her present. She nodded to the Lieutenant, giving Rosa one lingering glance before stepping away. She walked back to the shuttle bay they''d just come from in a daze. Who was responsible for this? It couldn''t be Ren''brus and the others, they had been attacked by that monster just as surely as Rosa had. She couldn''t think of anyone who had a direct motive to do all of this, to orchestrate everything which had happened. She knew one thing, however—when she found the culprit, they would pay dearly for what they''d caused.


    She entered the shuttle bay and stared at the body of the Ven. It still looked exactly like the Julia Springborn she had known, or thought she knew. She now wondered if there had ever actually been a Julia at all? Was this officer who served with distinction ever anything but a traitorous monster? If so, what had happened to the original? Was she floating around in space somewhere? Winterborn shook her head slowly, trying to clear her rapid flood of thoughts.


    Someone placed their hand on her shoulder, she turned her head to see Commander Val standing behind her, a worried look on her face. "I''m sorry this happened, Sir. I know how much Rosa means to you...you should know that the entire officer staff are rooting for her. We all love Lieutenant Fallborn, she''s kind of like our collective little sister."


    Winterborn nodded slowly, tear now streaming freely down her face. She pulled Val into a hug, a sob escaping despite her best effort. "Thank you, Val. I appreciate every one of you. I have the best crew a Captain could hope for."


    Val patted her on the back, holding her in a warm embrace. "Sir, there is something which needs your attention." Winterborn pulled herself out of the embrace and composed herself.


    "What is it, Commander?"


    "Sir, the Quin''tel would like to meet with you as soon as possible. They say it''s urgent that they talk with you. Oh, and I''d like to report that all other officers have been tested by the Quin''tel devices. So at least among the officers, there are no other Ven."


    Winterborn patted her on the shoulder, "That''s good news, at least. We need all the good news we can get at this point." She wiped her eyes with the cuff of her jacket and snapped off a crisp salute to Val. She turned to walk away, stepping past the medical personal there to collect the body of the Ven. She simply nodded to them, and was off to meet the Quin''tel Captain.