Their scanner was a basic civilian model, with millimeter resolution. Not nearly good enough to pick up my more subtle enhancements, even if my stealth suite wasn’t feeding it distorted returns.
My own sensors were a lot better. The trolls were purely organic models, without even implant computers. Barely twice as strong as a normal human of their size, with only a few basic damage control measures. Their stunners had biometric locks, so grabbing one wouldn’t help me. On the good side Lilia was practically helpless - she had no weapons or combat mods, and kinesthetic modeling told me she was even weaker than she looked. I guess ‘elves’ are supposed to be frail or something.
“Good,” Lilia said. “Initiate the hack, then. We need to get her safely under control before she’s missed. Renit, is the insertion team ready?”
Jenki pressed another device against the back of my neck. Something pricked my skin, and started to worm its way into the soft tissue beneath. My internal monitors reported a mass of tiny, worm-like threads burrowing into my flesh.
Ugh! I wanted to tear them out, but my muscles were still twitching from the stunner. The thin fibers of synthetic muscle threaded through the normal tissue couldn’t be stunned, and they’d be able to move me even with my human parts shut down. But the twitching would throw off my movements, and I couldn’t afford that. I needed to buy a little more time.
“Yes, ma’am. Both squads are loaded into their hibernation pods, and their armor and weapons are at full charge. Those damned slavers aren’t going to escape the revolution. Bet they’ll be shocked when our people wake up mid-flight and start shooting them.”
The doctor had been right about my internal defenses. Swarms of nanobots were flooding into my bloodstream, and an organ I’d never noticed before woke up ready to make more. But damaging their equipment would give me away. I held my defenses back, fumbling clumsily at reflexes I’d never used. Don’t attack yet. Get ready, but not yet.
The worms burrowed deeper into my flesh. They found my spine, and started to work their way up towards my brain.
“I’m still worried about the ship’s crew,” Jenki grumbled. “Spacers aren’t like the degenerate masters we’re used to. They can be dangerous, and we don’t even know what kind of security system that ship has.”
“You worry too much,” Lilia said. “My dear, beloved mistress is going to show off her new pets to everyone on board. We’ll brainhack her friends and lovers first, and then work our way up their ranks to the captain. By the time the trolls wake up we’ll be ready to seize the ship.”
The worms were burrowing into my brain now. Some of them fanned out into starbursts of microscopic tendrils, forming connections with my motor neurons. Others carefully worked their way deeper, reaching for other parts of my brain. It made my skin crawl. I wanted to scream, and struggle. The muscle twitches were dying down now, but I made myself wait. If they had trolls in powered armor around here somewhere I couldn’t afford to make any mistakes. I had to wait for the right moment, no matter how creepy it was.
“I hope you’re right, ma’am,” Jenki said. “It looks like you’ll get your chance, at any rate. No immune response, and I’ve almost got her com. You want the usual setup?”
“Yes. The lack of VR is inconvenient, but I can work around it. Give me full control of her emotional responses, wipe the last few minutes of her memory, and leave the rest of the neural integration running. Convincing her to loot this place will be child’s play, and she won’t have time to watch me pack. When she comes back tonight she’ll assume the cargo container with our troops in it is full of her newfound gold and servants, and she’ll happily slip it onto the ship of her own volition.”
Somehow, I didn’t think Dusty’s security checks would miss a whole marine assault team hidden in a cargo container. But I wasn’t going to take chances, and I certainly wasn’t going to end up being the na?ve little girl who had to be rescued. I waited.
Sure enough, a couple of minutes later Jenki pronounced the brainhack ready to use. Renit picked me up, while Jenki stepped back and fiddled with her control box.
“You’ve got the datalink, Lilia?”
“I do,” the little elf replied. “My, my, just look at this innocent young limbic system. I’m going to have fun with her, once the mission is over. Let’s see, now. Standard suggestibility tweaks, a little fuzzy-headedness, and queue up a nice little crush to trigger the moment she sees me. Alright, let’s wake her up-”
I unleashed my nanobots. They flooded into the tissue that the brainhack had infiltrated, severing connections and eating into communication lines. The device didn’t seem to have any defenses, and the delicate spider web dissolved like spun sugar hitting water.
“-and get to work,” Lilia was still saying. “Wait, where’d my connection go? Jenki-”
Free, and my body was my own again. Renit was holding me up with her hands on my waist, her head turning to look at Lilia. Perfect. She didn’t even see my hand move before I had her knife out of its sheath, and slipped it neatly into her kidney.
She made a horrible squealing sound, and let go of me. I spun, pulling the knife free as I turned, and threw it in one smooth motion. The blade flew just like my simulations had predicted, and smashed into the stun turret’s camera point first. The lens shattered, leaving the weapon blind and hopefully unable to target me.
Jenki was already starting to reach for her stun pistol, but I was on her before she could get it out. I ducked under a hand that was trying to fend me off, grabbed the front of her uniform and swarmed up it to get my teeth on her throat.
Crunch.
She had a little armoring there, but it wasn’t any tougher than a zango’s bones. I ripped out the whole front of her throat, and spit it out. Blood sprayed everywhere, drenching me. For a moment my eyes were blinded, but my other senses were still working fine.
Lilia started backing away, with a frantic call for help going out over her com.
“Oh no you don’t!” I drowned her out with a scream of radio static, and rushed her.
She gasped, and turned to run. I caught up with her in three steps, and tackled her to the floor.
The impact left her sobbing with pain. “Please don’t kill me, Mistress,” she pleaded.
“Shut up.” I wrenched her left arm behind her back, and dragged her back to her feet. There was no telling if someone had gotten her call for help, or what kind of security was watching the foyer. I had to get out of here fast. I dragged Lilia back to the entrance, ignoring her tears.
“Open the door,” I ordered.
“How do I know you won’t kill me too?” She asked.
“Idiot. I haven’t killed anyone yet. Their brains are intact. Now open the door, or I’m going to find out if all those extra nerve endings you’ve got make you more sensitive to pain.”
“You wouldn’t,” she gasped.
I twisted a little harder, and dislocated her shoulder. Her scream echoed through the hall.