Run.
Rachel ran.
If I stop I die. Got to keep going.
Wincing as her barefoot flew across the rocky floor of the woods, flailing arms smashing through vegetation and the sounds of her pursuers behind.
Keep. Going. Find help.
I'm gonna make it, Im losing them!
Rachel put on a final burst of speed and leaped over a barbed wire fence, hurriedly ripping shreds from her trousers as they were caught, as the muddy ground became solid rock and the trees disappeared. An exit?
"Ah hell."
Fortunately stopping just in time to avoid toppling over the sheer precipice, the girl looked down into the black water, unfathomably deep, weighing her chances. Two men stepped onto the rocks, the cybernetic metal feet of the man on the right clicking on the black stone.
"Rachel."
"Sam, Artie." She addreshed her pursuers. Sam was a handsome blond man wearing dark sunglasses. Artie was the repaired victim of a car bomb accident a few years back , his cybernetic metal arm tapering to a clawed hand, those two metal legs leading to bladed feet.
"Your sister misses you."
Rachel took a subtle step back.
"Well, she can wait a little longer." with that she flung herself backwards speeding towards the water and crying out as she hit the water hard, dragged around by the rushing current, and struggling to stay afloat. Rocks appeared almost immediately before her head made contact with it and Rachel felt blood trickling down her face before she passed out.
"Do you think she's dead?" Sam asked worriedly.
"Nah, she can take more punishment than other humans. Quinn is going to be so pissed at us though."
"Well, Rachel can't run forever."
David slouched around town, idly observing the clothes in the windows.
"I wonder if I'd look good in a blazer?" He pondered, remembering Jeff's fashionable black jacket.
"Nah," he decided.
Lieutenant David Akanu hated shore leave, no matter how short it was. He left the orphanage six years ago, aged 16, and never looked back. No family, no friends outside the Warbler. Thankfully he won't be here long, no need to spend tonight in a cheap motel staring at the ceiling and wishing he had someone.
His watch lit up green on his wrist as it projected a reminder - time to go back. Smiling in relief, he turned around, and a hand shot out from an alleyway, clamped itself over his mouth and pulled him into the dark alley with inhuman strength. David tried to shout for help, his cries muffled.
"Shut up, you're going to get me killed!" Rachel pulled down her hood.
"Rachel! Shit! You scared me...oh god. What are you doing here?"
"I need your help."
David sighed.
"Of course you do," he appraised her, wincing as he noted all the bruises up and down her arms and the gash on her face, "the fuck happened to you? Come on, I'll get you on the ship I work on, we can drop you off on some plane far away."
"Quinn's alive. And she's not happy with me for the whole throwing her into a furnace after she held the King of Drar's son hostage on Saturn I guess."
He supported her weight as the two sloped back to the ship.
"Oh great, your evil sister is back. Urgh, you're soaking my jumper, and you're all muddy."
"Found a boyfriend yet?"
David frowned.
"Nope. A whole ship full of gay men, the engineer is really cute and I hit on him shamelessly but nope, no reaction. There's nobody in this universe willing to take me. Even my friend Trent who's the pilot has a boyfriend back here in London and he is the most irritating man in the world sometimes!"
"Excellent! I can matchmake you with this engineer guy!"
David silently prayed for help.
Nick was showing the timid Jeff around the ship. Jeff didn't speak much, just stayed close to Nick's side and smiled at the crew.
"Are you okay?" The commander asked, the blonde nodded hurriedly and Nick raised an eyebrow.
"I guess so," Jeff murmured "it's just a bit...scary being surrounded by so many people in weird suits with guns and...this technology is so weird."
"I'm so sorry, I forgot you were from Hope. Here," he handed Jeff a grey bracelet with a small black circle set in to it, "we call this a Comcuff. The black circle is a projector screen. The middle button projects the time, the top button is for paging other people, the bottom button is a map. Oh and that red button is an emergency call. You can talk to it as well and it does loads of other stuff. Trent sets alarms for other members of the staff at three in the morning but he's an idiot. Remind me to disable that feature On his cuff when I introduce you to him in a sec."
"Thanks!" Jeff decided to pretend he'd remembered all of that. Still, it was an amazing piece of kit, and a sign the ship was welcoming to newcomers.
They were on their way to the bridge when the airlock opened and Lieutenant Akanu staggered in with a stranger. A dark grey hooded top cast shadow over a pale face and their bare feet left a trail of blood and mud behind them as they slowly approached Nick, one cut up hand on the wall.
Nick stood in front of Jeff defensively.
"It could be a hitman, stay back."
Jeff shrunk into Nick.
"Stop." Nick commanded and the stranger paused, looking taken aback.
"That's Commander Duval, he's my boss." David explained.
"Oh, I'm dissapointed David, I thought you would be in charge. Commander," the girl greeted Nick in a faint voice, pulling down the hood to reveal brown shoulder length hair framing haunted dark brown eyes with deep shadows.
"This is my friend Rachel, she'll be staying aboard just for a couple days."
"No."
"Nick please," David begged.
"You know the rules, friends of employees aren't allowed aboard."
"However," Wes interrupted, apreparing from the bridge with supernatural speed, "family members are, if they're in danger. This is my cousin."
Nick started to challenge Wes.
David looked with pleading eyes at Nick.
"Oh man, really? Fine. But she leaves ASAP. And what happened to your shoes and your trousers?"
Rachel looked down at her trousers, which were shredded up to the knees, and her blood-smeared feet.
"Barbed wire fence. No more questions. Which way are the bedrooms cousin?" she linked her arm through Wes' and lead him away, throwing a sly wink at a visibly worried David, leaving Nick perplexed.
"How come no one knows I'm the commander? So much for my air of authority."
"It's the hair, you were supposed to cut it." David mock scolded him.
"I could cut it," piped up a timid voice "er, just a suggestion, you don't have to. Never mind." Jeff added in response to their gaping.
"No, no, I'd like that. If you're any good of course, I don't want you to mar my roguish good looks." Nick joked.
Nick lead Jeff to the conference room, stealing one of the silver spinning chairs and taking it to the large bathroom leading off from the conference room.
Nick threw himself onto the chair and it rolled across the room on four wheels, coming to a stop in front of the sink.
"Did you see that skill?" He joked, trying to ease Jeff's tension.
Jeff smiled uncertainly as he washed the commander's hair, once he was finished he spun Nick so he faced away from the mirror.
"Im gonna cut it now. Stay still," he ordered the commander, taking some scissors from one of the drawers and carefully cutting his hair. Once it reached his ears, he used a comb and ran it through before snipping some more off. Jeff's fingers brushed his neck and Nick felt goosebumps form.
"Done." eventually Jeff stopped and span the chair round, nervously waiting for the Commander's reaction.
"I like it," Nick felt his hair, which had started to curl more now it was shorter, and was cut to just above his ears. He felt along the back of his neck, it felt even.
"Thank you Jeff, I have a feeling you and I are going to get along like a house on fire!" he clasped the blond's shoulder And Nick admired Jeff's amber eyes, such an unusual and pretty colour.
"Commander we're receiving reports of an uprising in the town of Thar, Mars, switching to light speed as soon as we hit the Earth-Mars lightway. ETA till arrival 1 hour."
"Ok, thanks Trent." Nick pressed a button on his cuff and his next words blared through the intercom, "Ground squad: I want David, Thad , Jack and Eddie to meet me in the armoury ASAP."
"What about me?" Jeff asked And Nick considered his options.
"I don't want you to leave my side, you're safer with me."