Cybernetic: Echoes of Madness

March, 2620 CE

Talis Venona lounged in the commander's seat on the bridge of the Warmonger, taking in the scenery and breathing heavy from excitement; the scent of fear was all around her, filling her heart with ecstasy and satisfying something primal deep within her. The bodies of those men who stood against her lay still, blood pooling around them in shapes that pleased her eyes and calmed her nerves.
She prepared an encoded message to Corvis, her employer, informing him that the crew was neutralized and that the ship was only waiting for him to claim it. She added that the appropriate disarming signal for the explosives in the munitions stores would be sent when he wired the funds to the previously specified accounts; in her experience, it usually paid off to ensure the client's cooperation and timely payment.
Satisfied, she sent the message and stood up; it was about time to return to her ship.

The way Talis Venona walked was at odds with the rest of her appearance; reminiscent of the fashionistas or runway models, but dressing in full body armor and carrying a charge rifle mag-locked to her back and a fat revolver holstered around her waist. Not a hair was out of place, no one who didn't know her would guess she had just finished single-handedly slaughtering the crew of this small attack frigate.

She boarded her ship, the Last Resort, and detached from the now derelict Warmonger, figuring it was time for a break. This last job had paid well despite the ease with which she completed it; she recalled a few travel advertisements for Canaan, apparently it had bloomed into quite a gem in the last five years or so.
It was decided then, Talis input the coordinates into the auto-pilot and leaned back in her chair. She had some time to sleep before arriving planetside for the first time in...what was it now? Six months? A year?

---

Talis was awoken by the sudden rocking of her ship, confused she checked the hull camera feed for a source. She was delighted by what she found; apparently Corvis had followed in her wake, his ship was sloppily docked with hers. She didn't think the bastard was crafty enough to follow the Last Resort, as it was equipped with best stealth systems that money could buy, in fact it should be impossible. He proved far more expert than he had let on, she idly wondered what he would look like gurgling from a gunshot wound to the throat.

They also disabled the security feed at the docking port, denying her a visual confirmation of her attackers or their current actions, but she could guess what they were up to.
Working quickly, she restocked her ammunition and waited about twenty feet away from the airlock blast door, confident that whatever charges they were going to use wouldn't have any real effect on her. They were likely expecting her to be caught unprepared; her impromptu nap had saved her the inconvenience of fighting without her body armor or her beloved Autarch Revolver, though they hardly would have been necessary to eliminate this bunch.

She placed a finger to her throat and the chorus began.

There was a muffled explosion and a rush of air as the other ship's atmosphere mixed with the Resort's; the airlock door crashed to the ground. Smoke obscured the doorway, though it didn't do much good for the boarders. Talis's augmented eyes pierced the haze and she could clearly see the attackers move in. It was an instant later that her Autarch roared and the first of the thug's fell to the ground sans the top of his head, torn away by a 12.7mm bullet.
The loud discharge of her revolver was like a lover's whisper to Talis; she derived an almost physical pleasure from unloading its payload into people that insisted on becoming her enemy.
The urge to kill played like a symphony inside her head, she could feel claws gently running across the inside of her skull, ethereal fingers pointed out kill shots, demanding that blood flow.
But the music. Oh God the music. It was the most beautiful sound she had ever heard.

She danced to the chorus of screams and frantic gunfire; no harm could come to her and she placed every shot with a surgeon's precision. One panicky brute unloaded on full-auto, fear overtaking his better judgment and precision; Talis capitalized on his loss of composure and charged full-speed. The terrified soldier could scarcely keep her in his sights let alone hit her and before he knew it the barrel of a gun was between his eyes.
She loved watching people die up close.
A second later, he crashed to the floor with an empty skull. The others were still firing short bursts, trying to keep up, but they were hardly a threat. Two quick shots and two more lie dead; the last two tried to run, but instead they ended up unceremoniously dropped from gunshots to the back of the head.
She reloaded.

Talis waltzed boldly into the ship, gunning down anything that moved until finally arriving at the bridge. She guessed that less than three quarters of the ship's crew was left; which meant that it was effectively stranded.
Fearlessly she walked out onto the bridge and into the waiting gun of her erstwhile employer. He wasn't taking any chances, firing as soon as she was visible. He couldn't keep his hand from shaking and it showed; Talis barely had to twitch to avoid the bullets.
"Come now Corvis, I expected more from you." She twirled her gun and cracked the butt of her pistol across Corvis's head, "I mean, you found my ship. You're more capable than this pathetic attempt at piracy."
Blood ran freely between Corvis's fingers as he glared at her, "Damn it, what did you expect?" he picked himself off the floor with some effort, "I've seen your work monster, you're too good at what you do. If I didn't take a shot at you now, I'm sure I'd be on the receiving end of one of your contracts."
Talis giggled manically, "That's it? You're just a paranoid freak?" She clapped her free hand to her head, "you seriously tracked a stealth cruiser to the border of Imperial Space for the sole purpose of killing me for fear that someone at some point in the future would maybe hire me to kill you?"
Corvis remained silent as the girl laughed loudly at him.
"Corvis Corvis Corvis! You never perform a hit on a former employer, no matter how good the money is!" She managed to stifle some of her laughter, "it's bad for business if you kill former employers who did right by you! Otherwise, you'd find yourself up to your eyeballs in folks who like to interrupt girls while they sleep."
After a slight pause, "did you track me down yourself?" she asked placing a finger to her chin.
"Yeah, if you know how to read the charts; no ship is untraceable."
"Is astro-navigation your only talent?"
Corvis scoffed at the insult, "Hardly, I got to where I am by finding my enemies wherever they hid."
Talis nodded as she considered this.
The longer he waited while she thought, the more nervous he became. Corvis was so terrified that he couldn't stand it, but he figured he was managing to keep it off his face considering she didn't immediately dismiss him as a man who would say anything to survive.
Finally he interrupted her thoughts, summoning up the last reserves of his boldness; figuring if he read her correctly, sniveling like a weasel now would only end badly for him, "Well now what? Am I a dead man?" She returned to the present, her mind made up. Smiling she began to undress.

This was perhaps the single least likely thing he expected to happen, short of spontaneous combustion, and he absolutely didn't trust it.
"What's your game monster?" He never thought the sight of a woman undressing could inspire so much dread, he was more terrified now than when she held a gun to his head.
"No game Corvis. I'm yours now, exclusive contract. Your enemies are now my enemies, your friends are my friends; anything you wish I'll do." She said, placing special emphasis on that last part.
The last of her armor fell to the floor and she turned to face him, "You've got talents that I need, there are people I want tracked down." She cocked her head, "I'm assuming this wasn't a one time fluke of competence?"
Corvis noted the sincerity in her voice, though he was disturbed at this obvious attempt at manipulation; she used her body simultaneously as a bargaining chip and a way to throw off her would-be pawns. There was something else too; something about her that seemed to force him to pay attention and appealed to his baser instincts, like an aura or some other kind of nonsense, though the fear for his life kept it from affecting him the way she clearly wanted it to.

He eventually concluded that if he didn't accept her deal then he would be killed right here. He seemed to deflate, like the fight had just gone out of him. He nodded his agreement with the Devil as she came closer.