Kira stared blankly into the mirror. Her reflection looked back - a slender, genetically engineered cat-girl with snow white hair and furry, catlike ears. Aqua, almost glowing eyes met her gaze in a flawless face. But Kira didn't feel flawless. She felt rough and ragged, and so very tired.
"Wake up, babe!" said another scantily clad cat-girl as she passed by. "It's almost your shift. And you know what happens when we're late."
The woman pointed at the thin silver choker around her neck. It wasn't a fasion accessory, but a slave collar that would deliver a nasty shock any time its wearer misbehaved.
Kira sighed and stood up. "Yeah, I know." She scratched her neck above her own collar, then headed to the stage door.
The moment she pulled it open, she was blasted with the usual bass-heavy melody, dominated by electric instruments. The crowed cheered, eager to see a new face… and body. There were two other cat-girls dancing on stage already, and one of them had pulled her top off and was throwing it into the throng of people.
Kira shut her eyes. She'd done this so many times, for so many years, that her feet and body knew what to do. The strobe and neon lights washed over her as the music took control. She danced, her long, white tail swinging back and forth, but her mind was far away. Hours passed, though time had no meaning to her when she was in her trance.
"Kira," a voice said close to her ear as an arm wrapped around her waist. It was one of the other dancers.
She heard the crowd roar. They loved to see girl-on-girl action.
"Hmm?" Kira said, not bothering to open her eyes.
"Something's goin' down," the other woman said quickly into her ear. The urgency in her voice sent Kira's eyes flying open. She gave Kira a playful slap on the butt before dancing away again.
Kira kept moving in time to the music as she scanned the club. There was a definite sense of tension in the air. The guards at the doors were looking out the thin slits of the windows, guns held ready in their hands.
Kira was owned by a very exclusive club, called "The Cat's Paw." They catered to only the richest patrons, and had topnotch security. They genetically engineered their "cat-girls" from birth, and taught them to perform exotic dances. Every woman here was well versed in the arts of pleasure. Any disobedience, however, resulted in an excruciatingly painful shock by the slave collars, and possibly death.
The music stopped abruptly, sending gasps and confused murmurs through the crowd. The other two dancers huddled close together, but Kira stood apart, watching intently. A guard came to stand on stage with them, clearly protecting the club's "assets".
A voice came over the intercom: "Ladies and Gentlemen, please take your seats and wait patiently. We're experiencing some technical diffi-" The voice cut off with a loud popping sound.
The front doors burst open with a loud bang, and something that glowed red zipped through the air, hitting each of the guards in the chest and knocking them to the floor. Kira strained to see what was going on.
"Everybody on the ground!" Said a harsh voice from the back of the club. Kira saw a man standing there with blue skin and a glowing red ridge on his head. He was holding something in his hand, and was surrounded by a group of other men.
"Ravagers," gasped one of the cat-girls.
Kira had heard of them. They were a large band of raiders, bandits, and bounty hunters. But what were they doing in a place like this?
"You!" shouted the blue man, pointing at the guard on stage, presumably the only one left that hadn't been hit by the flying red thing. "Call out yer boss."
The guard looked around nervously, then touched a button on his earpiece. Kira was close enough to hear him say, "Tell Iru we've got a big problem."
A moment later, a back door slid open and the club's owner stepped out, dressed in a black tailored suit. Kira had only seen him a handful of times in her life. He rarely made public appearances.
"Iru Maran," said the blue man as he swaggered forward. "You've got quite the price on yer head."
Iru shrugged. "And who's going to claim the bounty? You? Oh, please." He rolled his eyes.
The head Ravager opened his hand and an arrow-like object flew into the air. He pursed his lips as if to whistle, but just as he did so, Iru held up a black remote and pressed a button. The glowing arrow and all the Ravager's guns flew up to the ceiling and stuck there.
"Oh, Yondu," laughed Iru snidely. "You've bit off more than you can chew this time." He pointed up at the ceiling above the Ravagers. "It's magnetized. You're getting rusty."
Yondu cursed under his breath, but strode forward undaunted. "You think I need my arrow to take you out?"
At that moment, a group of guards entered the club behind Iru. They all pointed their guns at Yondu and the Ravagers. "Oh, how the tables have turned," he said with a wicked smile.
Kira knew about the magnetized ceiling. It had been installed about a year ago. She also knew that all of the club's guards carried energy blasters made primarily of a special kind of alloy, so they wouldn't be affected by the magnets.
Then something clicked in her mind. This man, Yondu, wanted to kill her boss, her owner. She hated him above all else, hated this whole wretched club. Nothing would please her more than to see it in ruins. She looked at the guard in front of her, and her mind was made up.
With a movement as fast as a striking snake, she shot forward, pulling the gun right out of the guard's hands. She kept running, making it all the way across the club before her shock collar activated. Her eyes locked with Yondu's as she screamed in pain. As she was falling to the ground, she managed to toss the gun in his direction. He caught it in midair and fired a shot a split second later, right into Iru's forehead. Then all hell broke loose.
Kira wasn't sure what happened after that, because the pain from the shock collar caused her to black out.
When she next opened her eyes, she was still lying on the floor of the club, but it was eerily quiet. The air smelled of smoke, and burning flesh. She groaned and sat up, rubbing her neck, and gasped in surprise. Her collar was gone.
Kira looked around incredulously, wondering who had taken it off. Her eyes immediately fell on the head Ravager. He was sitting in a chair, watching her.
"Guess ya finally came around," he chuckled, his voice rough. "We thought ya were dead there for a while."
Kira rubbed her head and stood up, watching him closely. The club around her was decimated, tables shot through by guns and blasters, strobe lights busted. Part of the roof was even torn off and snow was falling through the large hole. She shivered, remembering she barely had enough clothes on to cover her unmentionables.
Yondu looked her up and down, then tossed a long Ravager coat to her that he'd been holding. She caught it and quickly put it on, pulling it close around her against the cold.
"I owe ya one, cat-girl," he said with a grin. "You got a name?"
"Kira," she said, offering him a genuine smile. She then noticed that Yondu wasn't wearing the coat he'd come in with. It was apparently his own Ravager's coat that he'd tossed to her.
"You should get outa here while ya still can, girl," he said abruptly. "Authorities'll be coming in soon to clean up the mess."
"You killed him then? Iru?" she asked hopefully.
"Yeah," he said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of his ship. Kira could see it through the open door. "He's all bagged up and ready to go."
Kira sighed with relief. "And my collar…. Thank you."
Yondu shrugged. "Least I could do." And with that, he stood up and headed for the door.
Kira started to go after him, then thought better of it. What could she say?
So instead, she stood there and watched him walk out into the snow. A moment later, he started checking a small instrument panel on the side of his Ravager's ship. It was bigger than the few others she'd seen.
She bit her bottom lip, deep in thought. Ravager's, huh? Basically space pirates. But their life seemed a hell of a lot better than her's. She shifted back and forth, her feet freezing.
"I bet it's nice and warm in that ship," she mumbled to herself. "And I bet he's going somewhere better than this frostbitten place."
She took a bold step forward and called out, "Yondu!"
His head snapped up and he turned in her direction. A look of surprise crossed his face as he watched her run across the snow to his ship.
"I wanna come with you," she said when she reached him, narrowing her eyes and trying to look determined. "At least to wherever you're going next."
"Wha-?" he began incredulously, then stopped. "We're Ravagers, girl. The places where me and my crew go, it's no place for… a dancer. Hell, my crew would eat ya alive."
Kira crossed her arms, knowing exactly what he meant. "I can handle it," she fired back resolutely.
He eyed her skeptically for what what felt like forever, then finally said, "All right, but you're off my ship as soon as we hit the next planet."