Aeryn shouted loudly at her 7-year-old daughter Asharah to hurry up and get ready or they would be late for school. Today, Asharah's class were going on an excursion to the local museum. As always, Aeryn carried a pulse pistol. She was an ex-peacekeeper. She had been a front line troop as well as a top class pilot, so she never felt completely safe unless she had her weapon.
Everything was going really well and the class were thoroughly enjoying themselves, when Aeryn's keen senses alerted her to something. There was a man following the group. He had been following them for some time. Aeryn could tell from his movements that he was a skilled tracker. So as not to alarm and worry the group, or alert the man to anything, Aeryn decided to watch this man more closely. Aeryn, and unbeknownst to her, Asharah, stopped to 'look' at something. The only problem was that this man knew Aeryn and her habits. He knew her past, the past that only a few others knew. Therefore he knew what Aeryn was doing, or at least trying to do. He had been her commanding officer in the Peacekeepers and had been one of the people who had trained Aeryn's unit.
Suddenly the man revealed his position. Aeryn's instincts took over immediately as she recognised the man. She was ready for battle, able to kill with her bare hands if necessary. She knew this man could be deadly but then, so could Aeryn. Aeryn was prepared for hand to hand combat, even though she had a weapon concealed. Suddenly, that all changed, for now the man had something Aeryn wanted. Something she needed and had to get back. He had Asharah! The man had just made a big mistake. Now he'd made Aeryn mad! Real mad! If he thought Aeryn was dangerous before, she was deadly dangerous now.
Desperate to keep this 'meeting' low key, Aeryn tried to understand what the man wanted. She knew he would go to any lengths to get what he wanted, but so would Aeryn. Aeryn had seen it first hand when he had pursued John, now her husband, for supposedly killing the man's brother. Suddenly it clicked! The man had dismissed Aeryn for spending too much time with unclassified 'beings'. Now he realised what he had lost by removing Aeryn. He had seen how happy Aeryn was in her new life. He wanted her back, even if it meant killing the one thing she loved more than anything else, her daughter.
Using reflexes from her Peacekeeper days, Aeryn produced the concealed weapon. Any hopes of keeping this scene low key had shattered when the man had revealed his intentions and taken Asharah. By now, quite a crowd had gathered, including the rest of Asharah's class. Aeryn decided, so as to keep the proceedings a little more 'private', to revert to her native tongue, Sebacean. Only three people in the whole museum understood Sebacean, her, the man, and Asharah. By doing this, Aeryn had inadvertently created a bigger crowd. Everyone was curious as to why this raven-haired lady with the big gun and the military officer were talking in a strange language and fighting over a young girl.
The man knew Aeryn would fight fiercely for her freedom and for Asharah. But what he couldn't, or wouldn't, see was the fierce maternal glint in Aeryn's eyes. Asharah knew how protective her mother was, so she felt as safe as she could knowing that Aeryn would do everything in her power to protect her.
Suddenly the man pulled out his weapon. It was a standard issue pulse pistol, the same as the one Aeryn herself carried. Aeryn didn't move, didn't flinch. She was steeled for battle and ready for anything. She aimed her own weapon and flicked the safety off with a click. The man did the same. Aeryn was like a coiled spring, ready to move or fire with a split seconds notice. This could be dangerous. All of a sudden, the man's focus shifted from Aeryn to Asharah. Slowly he took deadly aim at Asharah. Aeryn was not ready for this. She gasped, and it was only her years of Peacekeeper training that stopped her dropping her weapon.
Aeryn looked closely at the man's gun. She looked again, amazed. The man had overlooked something incredibly important. Aeryn just laughed and lowered her pulse pistol, flicking the safety back on as she did so. The crowd stood silent, shocked. How could this woman just stand there and laugh when her child was clearly in danger? Had she gone mad?
The problem was stupid. Someone had replaced the chakan oil cartridge in the man's gun with a cartridge full of water. His weapon was now, effectively, a water pistol. When Aeryn pointed this out to the man, he screamed with anger. He'd been so close, only to have this happen. When he got back to the command carrier, there would be hell to pay! Frustrated, the man threw his gun at Aeryn's feet and walked away, disgusted. He would cause no more trouble for quite a while.