Part Three ~ Kelida

The transfer from jumpship to dropship went easily, and soon enough Kelida found herself slinging a small bag over her shoulder and stepping out onto the planet proper. She'd been given suitable cold-weather gear to make the landing in subzero temperatures, but nevertheless she felt the sharp sting of icy wind as she made her way off the ship, emerging into the dark, ice-glazed night.

A hovercar was waiting to take the passengers quickly to their destinations, and Kelida scrambled into it with an ease that would not have been possible a week ago. The med tech had spent the long week before them working tirelessly on her wounds, and she was still so doped-up on painkillers that she would have most likely not even felt a gunshot wound to the gut.

The bag she carried even contained mostly medication - a first aid kit overflowing with various patches, detailed instructions on how to remove the stitches when she felt them tearing the healing skin, and a few useful tools. The remaining space in the bag was filled with some warm clothing and a holovid or two of her family (so her sibkin teased her about being a sentimental freebirth - Kelida responded to their taunts in kind, asking whether or not too much of one chemical had been dumped into their vat). Food was to be provided at her temporary home.

The hovercar flew smoothly down the deserted streets, depositing passengers at pre-assigned locations. By remaining silent on the dropship and keeping a low profile, Kelida had overheard that most of them were travelers looking forward to skiing on Kikuyu's slopes. Her own traveling attire was nondescript, so no one could tell at first glance that she was both a mechwarrior and clanner - they would have needed to see under her parka to find the coolant vest she'd smuggled with her when the med tech wasn't looking, or even the heavy, slug-throwing firearm she'd cinched tightly under her belt.

Vacations, even work vacations, especially work vacations, be damned. She wasn't about to leave her last lines of defense on the jumpship. Then again, Kelida was known to be somewhat more paranoid than most.

She couldn't help but snicker somewhat as the hovercar reached her destination. Her quarters were located in the building that housed the town's (and likely the entire planet's, considering its few civilized areas) garrison force of militia soldiers, although she was in a different wing entirely. Thank god for small graces.

The buildings on Kikuyu were mostly kept short and sprawling - closer to the ground for less wind, and long to make up for the lack of several floors. Most of them had very few windows, and many of them were connected by underground tunnels for the days when too much snow buried exits and entrances. It was, in the long run, a rather cozy place - a world she had loved to spend her time on as a child with her parents.

The world had become her prison.

Muttering under her breath, Kelida slung her bag over her shoulder and jumped off the hovercar, following a few other men who were likewise heading into the same building. Entering the building, she observed quietly as they strolled over to a set of doors blocking the north wing and punched in a clearance code. Moving to the south wing doors, she dredged up the code the med tech had made her memorize and was duly granted her own access.

Her private quarters were located halfway down the long hall, mixed in with rooms given to upper class civilians visiting Kikuyu on whatever Lyran business dragged them so far from home. She would be written off as one of those business women (perhaps a lady who had wisely invested in the crayon stock years ago), and thus would be left alone while she attempted to gather her thoughts and remember the visions that had assailed her after the battle.

Punching another code into the keypad by her door, Kelida stepped into her room once the doors slid open. Small, sparse, and nicely warm, it would be perfect for collecting her thoughts and meditating, but not much good for anything else. With a sigh, she dropped her bag on the floor and stepped out of her parka.

Without bothering to shrug off her coolant vest or set aside her firearm, Kel flopped back on the bed, kicking her boots off in one fluid motion.

She hoped she could figure out what it was that compelled her to return to this barren planet. Not yet in the condition to ski or otherwise play on the snowy slopes, she could only pray that she'd either fully heal quickly or that the time would fly. It would be a long three months.