A closed fist punched into the pane of blaster-proof ballistic transplast separating the lobby from the security booth. Eluna's punch perforated the reinforced window; her piercing strike the focal point around which a spiderweb of fractures appeared. The entire window bowed inwards as inner shards were held together superficially by the outer laminate. As the ISB officer within shrieked and fell from his chair at the control computer, Eluna reached her hand through the opening, using the leverage on the other side to wrench the entire window free.
"Intruder breach in outer contro-" -the sheet of ballistic glass slammed into the officer before he could say another word. Eluna calmly stepped through the aperture, lining up a shot to destroy the camera in the control room.
Dazed but alive, the ISB lieutenant crawled out from under the heavy crumpled pane as Eluna casually stepped closer. From beneath the glass, he pulled his personal pistol free, squaring off a quick shot at the inhuman woman's head. Ballistic prediction algorithms quickly ascertained the danger of the aim path. Eluna only avoided taking a shot to the face by bringing up an open palm, which lit up in a spray of energy as the blaster bolt cremated the synthetic flesh. The second shot was wide, only because Eluna had by then closed the distance to pull the barrel off trajectory. She easily wrenched the gun from the Lieutenant's hand, looking down at the weapon dispassionately as the dull grey fingers of her composite endoskeleton curled around the grip.
Eluna's green eyes tracked back to the ISB officer as she shook her head. Then with extreme force, she slammed the weapon against the reinforced wall, shattering it apart. This only served to demoralize the officer further, who blanched as his attacker repeatedly demonstrated the impossible.
"Please...I surrender! I have a family! Don't...don't..."
Eluna pulled the man up to his feet by the neck, but did not kill him. Far from ignoring the man's pleas, the Machine was listening to them quite intently.
Analyzing speech patterns. Mapping vocal inflections and tonal thresholds.
She tossed aside her E-11 rifle, using her free hand to relieve the officer of the code cylinder on his uniform. The Imperial officer wrapped both hands around her wrist in futile attempt to loose her hold on him.
"I have money. Eighty thousand credits...it's my life savings. Please...just let me go, and it's yours."
* * *
Detention facility inner control station - thirty-nine seconds later.
"Lieutenant Fyyar, repeat last message. We've lost visual and there appears to be interference."
Captain Kepps strained to listen through the uneven audio feed from the outer control station. For a moment, it sounded like the station had been compromised by the intruder. He'd already dispatched another three squads to repel the attack, but he needed the best information possible and he needed it yesterday.
The snow on the audio feed died away again, and Lieutenant Fyyar's voice returned.
"Repeat again, focus squads on access points along grids three and four. Intruder has entered the ventilation shaft. They may be attempting to bypass the lockdown.
Captain Kepps turned sharply, nodding to a stormtrooper sergeant who was already leaving the control room to adjust the facility defense.
* * *
Eluna listened to the audio feed from Captain Kepps, the Machine once again taking particular interest.
"I'm on my way to liaise with the reinforcing squads now," she spoke, her voice a pitch-perfect replication of Lieutenant Fyyar's Corulag accent. The ISB Lieutenant was now permanently indisposed, his dead body twitching against the wall. Fyyar's corpse was held in place by Eluna's left index finger, driven through his right eye socket down to the inner knuckle.
"Don't worry about me, Captain. If the resistance guerrilla doubles back the way she came, we'll have her. I assure you of that."
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