Dashboard icons and the new regime

Who: Seymour, Steev, Katrina, Cubie
Where: Buckingham Palace
When: During the escape
Cubie leaped over the wreckage, Katrina in her arms. Behind her, Seymour
was battling it out with several spiders. Ahead of her, Steev was clearing
the way (and sampling miscellaneous foodstuffs left lying around - it
disturbed her how many snacks and hors deouvres were left out on silver
platters along the corridor).
Suddenly a stray energy bolt from one of the spiders slammed into her back
and she barely kept from tumbling head over heels. She felt disoriented,
and lowered Katrina to the ground. "I-I'm hit. I can't-" She flickered
twice, shifting momentarily to softlight before reverting back. "Sorry,
Katrina."
-----Snip-----
The king turned around to see straight through Cubie, the hologram was
fading.
"That...that blast damaged my power cell ...it's running out, I just can't
carry her anymore."
Katrina stood up, shaking off her dazed expression and wiping back her dirty
hair. "Its ....okay...I can...walk myself..." then collapsed onto her
fiancée.
Seymour picked Katrina up and gave his gun to Cubie. "If you just carry the
gun do you think your power cell can last a few more minutes? This corridor
should lead to the servants' entrance, we'll be outside soon."
"I hope so," Said Cubie.
-----End Snip-----
The escape continued, with Cubie covering the rear now. Her targeting
program was still on-line, and she took out a spider with each shot.
Briefly she considered going after the locking bolt that Steev had so
adroitly displayed, but noticed that the spiders were now guarding their
weaknesses with spinning blades. Looked like bad news traveled fast in the
robot world as well.
There was a massive crash behind her, and she turned and raced to catch up
to the others.
-----Snip-----
Steev nodded and turned to run outside when a huge robot claw came from the
doorway. In fact it was a spider, but it had been attached to more spiders,
they had fused together to morph into a much larger machine.
The wall collapsed and the roof was torn off as the machine stood up to its
full height, it was a huge.....lobster.
"A lobster?" Said Seymour
"A lobster?" Said Steev
"a....l..o..b..s..t..e..r.." Said Katrina weakly.
"Why would the Plebians program the robots to join into a lobster?" Asked
Cubie.
"Why not?" Said Steev.
"Good point."
"I'll cover you!" shouted Cubie who started firing bazookoid shells into the
lobster's belly to attract its attention.
-----End Snip-----
Racing to the center of the room to avoid debris from the collapsing walls,
Cubie sighted in on the weak point in the lobster's carapace and fired
several rounds. She failed to score any critical hits, but managed to annoy
the lobster enough that it ignored the others as they headed for the Space
Eagle.
Then a brick knocked loose by a lobster claw smacked into the back of her
head, overloading the defense grid. The Bazookoid fell from suddenly
softlight hands.
"Oh, Sme-"
Everything went black.
Then suddenly she opened her eyes. She felt awful. Weak, heart fluttery,
half her systems off-line.
She looked down at her controller, then followed the wire to-
"You plugged me into a cigarette lighter?!"
Seymour chose to ignore her.
-----Snip-----
"Okay what do we do now?" Seymour said as he sat in the pilots seat and
gripped the steering wheel.
"Use the Eagle's missiles to blow that thing to little smeging pieces!"
Suggested Steev.
"I can't fire on the Royal Palace!" Said Seymour, startled by the
suggestion.
"Why not? It's got a big frelling Lobster in it!"
"But Buckingham palace is a landmark of British pride and patriotism, it
stands for honour, for things which are right, something that is, has been
and will forever be the same...."
"Blow the flipping thing up already!" Shouted Steev.
-----End Snip-----
Cubie started to open her mouth.
-----Snip-----
"Oh when you want something done..."
Steev leaned over and flicked the switch. The crew watched, transfixed as
the missiles flew in a lazy arc towards the symbol of the British Monarchy.
It was like time had slowed down. You could see the trail of each individual
projectile as they flew towards their target. Finally...
*THUMP!*
A pause...
....
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*
It would be raining pieces of spider and palace for weeks.
Then, the enormity of what had just happened sunk in. All eyes turned to
Steev. He thought as fast as he could...
"Weeeelll...that MIGHT have been a bit rash but..ummm..I have a reason!"
No words were exchanged, just subtle little folding of arms, sharpening of
knives etc.
"Well," he continued, "Y'see those robots were....gonna commit Regicide if I
let them go! So...merely by aping the procedures of the parallel universe
Judges, who killed people before their crimes are actually committed, I
was...ummm...perfectly justified in blowing the crap out of the palace."
-----End Snip-----
The silence was broken by the sound of Cubie's mouth closing with a snap.
She shook her head. "I've dealt with the parallel universe Judges. An
unpleasant lot. Always snitching on each other. 'Johnson, leave my soda
alone.' 'Why should I? You'll steal mine Friday!' Ugh. What a bunch of
paranoid twits."
Cubie shrugged at the looks the others were giving her. "There IS a low
crime rate. Of course, there's also a low level of productivity in that
universe as well."
=====
<Back aboard the Blue Dwarf>
Zack was waiting for a reply from the somewhat ditzy Ashley when the
whirlwind presence of Captain Samantha Hussain arrived and started chewing
everyone out. Zack backed up to the far bulkhead and tried to figure out
how to slip past the new captain without being noticed. He thought he had
his chance as she lit into Alota, but she spotted him trying to follow Alota
out and grabbed him by the arm and whipped him around.
"And you! Where's your uniform? I should have you . . ." Her voice
trailed off as her expression softened. ". . . you CHARMING man. I should
just HAVE you. Your name?"
Zack blinked, surprised at the sudden shift in demeanor. "Uh . . . Zack.
Zack Richards."
Hussain gave him a sultry smile. "Za-a-a-ack. A masculine name."
"Er, yes. My parents thought a masculine name would be a good idea,
captain."
"Call me Sam, Zack." She traced his jawline with a gloved hand. "Go get
your uniform on and report back to me."
Zack frowned. "But I don't HAVE a-"
Samantha cut him off, placing a gloved finger across his lips. "Then go GET
one, dearie. I'll not have my executive officer running around in civilian
attire."
"But I - WHAT?!" Zack boggled. "Executive Officer?! But I'm-"
Samantha grabbed Zack around the neck and pulled him up against her, then
dipped him and kissed him deeply. Righting him, she shoved him gently away.
"Go get a uniform, Zacky. Unless you want to be the naked XO that lives
chained to the captain's desk." Pulling him close again, she whispered into
his ear. "I know you're on this ship illegally. If you deny me, I'll find
a damp dark cell to lock you in until this ship is decommissioned. Now go,
snoodles. I have important things for you to do."
Zack started to protest, but was so rattled that he finally turned and fled.
Samantha smiled as he left, then looked around at the drive room crew, her
warface firmly back in place. "Well? I don't believe I ordered a break for
tea! GETBACKTOWORK!!!!" She looked up at the ceiling, like everyone who
ever talks to a ship's computer seems required to do. "Computer, promote
Zack Richards to Full Commander and log him in as the new Executive Officer.
Authorization Samantha Hussain, Captain, JMC Blue Dwarf."
Holly, now Dolly, appeared. "Captain Hussain, you have a medical
appointment in five minutes."
"What? I didn't schedule any appointments." Samantha frowned. "What's it
for?"
Dolly shrugged, a good trick for a virtual head. "Not really certain,
Ma'am. I was just told to let you know about it."
"Whatever." Samantha stormed off the bridge. Everyone waited five seconds,
then relaxed. Two seconds after that, Samatha reappeared at the door. "And
no, that's NOT an excuse to start slacking off!"
Spines tensed. Samantha left. After a minute, one spine thought about
relaxing.
"Don't even think about it!" came a shout from the corridor.
The spine stopped thinking about it.
<And then the mutiny began in earnest . . .>
<Well, actually it began in the medibay . . .>
~Zack & Cubie~
~Acting XO and Dashboard Ornament~