The Bad:
The mining convoy didn't stand a chance. From the shadows of the asteroid emerged the terror of Silas' Bhaalgorn. Tonight it would feast, and so would she.
*Victoria nods approvingly* Why is this always "The Bad"?
Anyhow....
The Good:Victoria looked at Victoria and smiled. “Well… I guess this is it.”
Victoria smiled back. “Nice to have your own mind again, isn’t it?”
The first nodded in agreement. “Yeah… if Sarah ever forgives me, tell her I said thanks.”
The second laughed and grinned, “I’ll let her know.” There was a long, silent pauses as Victoria and Victoria gazed at each other, then each shook her head and chuckled a little.
“Let me know if you ever need anything, Victoria.”
“You too, Vicky. Fly safe.”
Victoria watched with a wide grin as the other turned and walked away. Neither would ever be whole, but at least now they could each be at peace.
The Bad:Victoria opened one eye and tried to remember where she was. The world felt blurry, faint voices in the background sounded muffled, like someone speaking through a pillow. She forced her eyes open and they snapped shut again, wincing in the glare of a blinding light pointed at her face.
What the hell is that…Suddenly a voice pierces through, “Doctor? Doctor! It’s awake! It’s body must have already metabolized the anesthetic.”
Another voice, perhaps a little further away. “That’s fine, that’s why it’s restrained. If she’s smart, she’ll go back to sleep.”
Victoria forced her eyes open in the light again and looked around, trying to move without success. She looked up as far as she could and spotted the outline of the steel frame that held her head still. A brief attempt to wiggle each limb found that she was completely immobilized, and her mind filled with an alien emotion – fear. She struggled against her restraints as hard as she could manage, her mind still swimming through pea soup as the anesthetic wore off.
“Holy shit…” the first voice returned.
“Now what?” That must be the doctor… doctor… that’s a bad thing…
“Well… it’s a good thing we went with the two inch solid steel – she’d be bending the one inch frame we tested initially.”
“Impressive. Give her another hit, knock her out good, and let’s open her up.”
Victoria whimpered pitifully as the world became cloudy once more and then went dark.
The Ugly:“Everyone has their limit. At some point, there’s only so much that a person can take. And for some people that limit is reached much sooner than most. Psychosis doesn’t help.
“So let this be a lesson. If you see your friends struggling like this, step in. Get them help. Because if they hit that limit…”
The lecturer motions to the screen where the now-infamous case of Victoria Stecker was displayed. When her mind broke, she had gone on a rampage, turning a food court into a bloodbath, a hangar into a mass grave, and a station into a ghost town as the survivors left en masse. When she had finally been gunned down, her clone activated in another station and the same horrific violence began again, without warning. And so it had gone, for hours, until an emergency order could be given to disconnect every clone she had across the empires and in lawless space, finally bringing an end to her.
“Admittedly, most of your friends aren’t Madam Stecker, but the point remains.”
The Fun:Victoria hated being patient, but this time it paid off. The outbreak of war between the Empire and the Republic had made everyone thirsty for the blood of the Faithful, but she had held them back, even forced the Raiders of Querious to hold back. They made themselves as little a threat as they could, until the Kingdom could no longer justify heavy defense of the western flank in the face of all-out war to the northeast.
As the Faithful committed themselves completely to the war with the Matari, Victoria had let loose the hounds, her own Cult of the Bloody Queen leading them like the tip of a spear. The depleted defenders had been consumed, an appetizer that only fueled the bloodlust of the horde.
Victoria laughed as another station fell – literally - towards the burning world below. Tomorrow they would strike the homeworld, and then they would feast.