As promised, Chapter One, on this sunny and late Monday evening. I was hoping to do it earlier in the morning-ish, but I had an exam, and then a make-up test I had to take. Although, to be honest I probably won't be up until around noon on Mondays until I start college soooo… yeah.
ANYWHO! Bon appétit mes chéris, and drop me a line on what you think of it.
Also! Nykyrian, Syn and Hauk are not mine. Wish that they were, because who wouldn't want big sexy men, right? But, they are the mind babies of Sherrilyn Kenyon, hence the reason she's a famous author and I'm a po' white kid paying out the ass to go to college this fall. On the plus side, I get to frolic in the trees.
Ach, okay, collecting my ADD and wrapping this up. Um, review, favorite, all that jazz? Spread the beauty to your friends!
Much love,
Adara.
Chapter One: Fight and Flight
The streets were crowded at this time of day, people milling around in the warm summer heat as they headed to and fro on their daily business. There were people of all different shapes and sizes, with a startling myriad of different hair colors and skin tones. But today, for the sake of the story that is going to be told, we are going to focus on one person in specific. A thin woman of average height stood in front of a stall that was filled with ripe apples, inspecting one of the ruby fruits with a thoughtful expression on her face. She was dressed in civilian clothes; a baggy, long sleeved shirt and a pair of crème colored shorts that rode up above her knees, stopping mid-thigh. Her feet were clad in light, flimsy sandals, and a pair of darkly tinted glasses was pushed up high on her head, holding back a mane of curly red hair.
A welcomed breeze caught a few strands of the fiery locks and lifted them coyly into the sky, causing the woman to adjust her hold on the apple in order to push them back into place. In her other hand she held a basket filled with a motley arrangement of vegetables, and she brought the apple up close to her bright blue eyes before nodding almost imperceptibly. After passing some unknown initiation, the apple was placed in the basket with meticulous care, resting atop a heart of lettuce and a few cuts of rosemary and mint. The woman lifted another apple, worrying her bottom lip as she went through the same procedure. Spinning it over in her hands, she observed from every angle with the scrutiny of a hawk, before her head snapped up in surprise as her back pocket vibrated violently. Dropping the apple in her basket, she removed her mobile link and opened the text that she had just received.
/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/
Message from: Kip;
The supplies are going to be loaded soon. We just got the repairs done on your ship so wrap up any business you have in the next few days and get back to base.
/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/
Oh how she loved it when he used that demanding tone of text with her. Making sure he knew that in her reply, Elora grinned as a wave of giddiness rushed over her. She could finally get her ass back in a freighter and actually do something. Idle time was never something she enjoyed, and at the moment she was half tempted to run naked through the streets screaming at the top of her lungs.
And wouldn't that be quite a sight?
Please be Paradise City, please be Paradise City! She thought excitedly, moving down the display stalls. Paradise City was dangerous, dirty and right up her alley.
Elora paused at the sight of melons, unable to resist the pull of what had to be one of her favorite foods. There was movement behind her, and lifting up one of the heavier globes under the pretense of searching for soft spots, she cut her eyes back to see who was following her. There was another flash of motion, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up as she felt someone with malicious intent close in behind her. Feigning ignorance, she waited calmly for the glint of metal that signaled this would be assassin was about to strike. At the last moment it came and Elora whipped her body to the side. Instead of burying itself in between her ribs, the knife sliced deep into the melon she held, spraying its juice all over her.
Gah, how rude! She thought in annoyance, grabbing her attacker by the wrist. Spinning around with reflexes honed from years of fighting, she caught his other hand, which had been reaching around to strike her. For the briefest moment her blue eyes locked with a pair of emotionless brown ones, and she got a good look at the idiot who was trying to kill her. Giving him her best shit-eating grin, Elora head-butted the assassin hard and watched as he stumbled backwards. That would no doubt end up biting her in the ass once the adrenaline wore off, but watching the arrogant expression on her attacker's face made it worthless.
The assassin yanked at his knife, before reaching down to draw a blaster in his other hand. Elora watched with an amused expression on her face, before her glasses chose that moment to fall into her face, pulling her hair down with it and obstructing her vision. A long string of curses left her mouth then and she struggled to clear her vision while dropping her groceries and straining her hearing. The small click of a trigger being pulled indicated that he was firing the blaster, and the sounds of screaming could be heard. Whoever this idiot was, he was a piss poor assassin. She felt the line of fire as soon as it left the weapon; it felt as if there was a harsh tightening of the left skin of her arm. Ducking away, she threw out her hand and the streak arced against an unseen energy to collide harmlessly against the brick wall behind her.
The hell, is the League testing out their newbies on me? Finally untangling her glasses from her hair, she whipped her head up angrily to see the astounded assassin. Her eyes were no longer blue but a shade of red just off of cherry that stood out starkly against her tanned skin tone. Pushing her hair away from her face, she smirked evilly as she approached him.
"I'm going to let you in on a little secret sweetheart. Having more weapons doesn't give you the advantage. You only have the advantage if you know what you're doing." He fired again with his blaster—not doing much to alleviate the chaotic state that the streets were in—and with ease Elora dodged the strike. Moving with a quickness she grabbed the gun hand and jerked back. The assassin growled, striking out with his knife and slicing deep into her side, rending her shirt. Ignoring the bite of pain that the metal caused, she slammed him into the ground and effectively removed the blaster. Kicking it away, she twisted his arm behind his back, fisting her hand in his light brown hair.
"That was my favorite shirt!" She growled, punctuating each word by beating his head against the hard ground. Snatching the knife up, she placed the tip to the base of his neck before slamming down, effectively severing the brain stem and killing him. Blood trickled down the gash on her stomach and she looked at it in annoyance before sending a bit of psychic energy to the wound to knit it shut. It was stupid to assume that the bastard was alone so she took off down the street, pulling out her mobile.
/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/
Message to: Kip, Syn;
League's hounding me; I'm off the grid for a few days. Find me when you have the ship ready. Until then I'll try not to die.
/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/
The blast of air conditioning was a welcome relief to the sun's blistering rays and she forced her steps to slow into a calm stride as soon as she crossed the hangar doors. A quick look around confirmed her suspicions that there were a group of unpleasant people paying particularly close attention to her little transport vehicle. Luckily for her, there were literally dozens of other ships for her to choose from. Bright blue eyes that had quickly lost their ruby colorings scanned the area, alighting on a particularly menacing, black battle ship. Just one look at the engines, and the cannons and she knew it would go fast and pack a terrible punch. Making her way to the secluded channel where the ship was waiting, she kept a pleasant smile on her face as she surreptitiously wiped the bloody trail off of her face.
She followed the maintenance workers that were heading to the entry ramp and pulled a quick illusion over herself to make anyone look the other way. She watched as the hatch lowered and stuck close behind the two workers that stepped onto it. Waiting until it fully closed and they were out of sight, she pulled a knife out of the holster hidden on her back and pressed it into the throat of the tall blonde.
"Make one move and your throat is slit. And if your friend here does anything his brains will be splattered across the wall sooner than you can blink, got it?" She growled, voice low and threatening. She was pleased when they both nodded, trembling with fear.
"Good. Now, you're both going to walk off of this ship quietly, and if I hear so much as one peep from you, you're both dead." Stepping into the main hull, she watched as the two workers went back down to leave. A fast sweep of the plans assured her that she was alone, and that the ship was fully fueled and ready for lift off. With an evil grin she made her way to the bridge and dropped into the navigator's chair. Hitting a button, she brought up charts and launch sequences before entering in a set of coordinates. Entering in the preliminaries, she fired up the engines and grinned in victory. Punching in a launch sequence, she took the controls and lifted off. And oh baby, the ship ran smoothly and beautifully. But then, that was what she expected from what looked like a relatively new Pritan fighter.
Damn damn damn, I am lucky. Couldn't have done any better than if I'd nabbed one of Nyk's ships. She thought with glee, leaning back in her seat. It would be a long way to her little flat in Ritadaria, so she may as well enjoy the ride. What she didn't notice however was the that a tiny microchip lit up under her seat and started blinking red. Also, as she leaned back in the pilot chair, a tiny black button was punched into the collar of her shirt.
Meanwhile at the Sentella Headquarters:
"Fuck." Nykyrian rubbed his forehead, putting away his mobile and returning to the log of the ship that was being loaded. Hauk passed a curious look at him, before turning to bark orders to the crew that were currently running another diagnostic sweep on the Endeavor. They nodded worriedly, before scurrying off to do their tasks.
"Problems?" He asked, watching as his friend, one of the founders of the Sentella, clenched his jaw.
"I just got a message from Elora. There was just a League attempt on her life and she said she's going off the grid." That earned a low whistle from the Andarion, whose hand instantly went to the handle of his blaster.
"Someone took a shot at Mama Bear?" There was a low, protective growl in his voice, one that would be shared by almost all of the people in the Sentella. Since the day she'd pulled Nykyrian back from the brink of death, Elora had been a very important person in all of the Sentella's activities. Though not an official member, she never hesitated to make their lives a little more bearable, whether it was by making runs for them, cooking, or providing someone with a safe place to stay. She was aptly called Mama Bear due to her fierce, protective nature over them, and it meant more to some of them than others. Especially the ones who had never had a real mother, and had been used and kicked by everyone else.
"Kip! Did you see this message?" Syn called, running up to them with a worried look in his dark eyes.
"From Elora? Yeah. I need you to go tell the others, I want as many as we can spare looking for her. We need to find her as soon as possible." He replied, turning back to the shipping manifests.
"Don't worry, we'll find her. We're the best of the best here." Strangely enough Syn's words did little to comfort him, and Nykyrian couldn't help the unpleasant feeling he was developing in the pit of his stomach.