Finally, I got past all the chimichangas... Wait... No... No chimichangas. Bad. Bad Zaith.
Yep. I'm tired. Schleepy sleepy. It's late, I've been working on the chapter for hours, just trying to get it right, you know. Pain the butt, writing can be. But now i've got a few plot arks I can work with, which I'll save me some boring writing monotony.
Also, I've changed A WORD in chapter 2 of Bounty Hunter's Reward. Check out the chapter to understand.
We were in our teens. Jaska was still a fledgling Federation planet, and the lack of technology only made it more popular as a vacation spot. Seeing so many off worlders at the time was amazing, and their mysteriousness, their mystique made them like legends in my eyes. I was very impressionable at the time.
I lived farther away from the large cities, where most of the space travelers and traders came, so it wasn't often that I was allowed to view outsiders. Sheldon was our town name; it was where I was raised, as was Hiba. The majority of the village farmed the land, while some had managed to make a living as artisans and traders, bartering with the people of other villages. It was a small village. Everyone knew everyone. Information traveled fast among the townsfolk, and everyone pitched in to help each other out. It was survival that kept everyone together. It was survival that kept everyone there.
Generally, the families of the village would give birth and have families around the same time, around the age of twenty or so. Our village wasn't known for having people with long lives, living no longer then the age of fifty. The oldest person I knew at the time was old man Wart, who had survived forty eight years. Kids would be born around the same time so that the village could raise their children together, instead of having the burden all to themselves.
Yet our parents were young when they gave birth to us. It wasn't the first time a couple gave birth at an odd time. It happened. And so the families came together and helped ma and pa, and soon we were there, in the arms of two young parents. It would be another six years before another baby was born, along with all of the other children soon to come.
Hiba and I, we became close. She was my sister, I her brother. We were twins. We looked nothing alike. I had green eyes and brown hair, and looked much more like pa. Hiba had cherry blonde hair and blue eyes, just like ma. But like twins, we thought alike, and often. We like to play the same games, we liked the same stories, the same music, colors, and we even liked to explore the country side.
When we were six, the other babies began to come. Around that time, pa had started to teach me how to work on the farm, and ma started teaching Hiba how to do the house chores. Time passed, and it was more then apparent to both ma and pa that she was more of a tomboy then a house wife. So while the children played outside, we worked with pa to work the farm, growing crops. Occasionally, the other families asked us to watch over the children while they played, what with them becoming little explorers themselves. We grew up, and soon the kids could take care of themselves.
Yet we started to have those feelings. I tried to hide them at first. I think she did too. We just… didn't understand at first. I'm sure we didn't realize it at first, but we were very much alike to ma and pa, and it was more then just physical resemblances. We… She… I…
'Hiba…'
The lights came on then. I hadn't remembered them to be so bright, and my eyes certainly weren't prepared to the quick pain I felt from the brightness. I quickly hurled my hand to cover my eyes, shielding me from the over head lamps.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know there was anyone here."
Through the veil of the bright lights, I stole a glance of the door, only to feel the sting in my eyes again. Slowly, through cracked eyes, I forced myself to adjust, while contemplating who had spoken.
"It's alright," I said, being polite.
"Well, um… I'll just be a moment," said the voice, apologetically. Feminine. High pitched, at least, higher then mine. A rather pleasant tone, honestly. Can't say I wouldn't mind hearing more.
The padding of feet against the metallic floor came to my ear, pressing downward, and then peeling lightly away into the cool air. She stopped by the wall, though still a blur compared to the light. My eyes still couldn't focus too well. I heard a door open, like the suction of a refrigerator door being undone.
Then I could feel again. Strange, I thought I could feel already, but I hadn't even noticed the sweat dripping down my forehead. I was shaking. My hands, my feet, hell, my entire body was shaking. I thought back to my dream. I hadn't even noticed that I had started to dream again, not till now.
I looked down to the table. My eyes focused again, finally back to the way they should be. Somehow, I had drawn out the only photograph I ever cared to have. There, a top the plastic film of the table, laid the photograph of Hiba, the young smile, the clean teeth, the happiness in her. I…
Carefully, remembering the cold sweat, I rose from my seat, leaving the photograph, and heading to the sink. It was next to the refrigerator, just a few feet away. Next to her. Jazz Kel.
Jazz was the pygmy, or rabbit person. I hadn't seen her during my confrontation with Hannah, and only had a brief conversation with her earlier during dinner with the rest of the passengers and crew. At the time, I was too busy distancing myself from Hannah, as well as another passenger, a bounty hunter by the name of Hyun Chatel. I took note of the white bunny ears and fluffy tail, though from the looks of her, she looked like a regular human.
I walked over to the sink, and then set the faucet to warm. Water poured out, and I quickly began to make my hands into a make-shift cup, thus allowing myself to splash some water onto my face. I could feel the heavy drops of liquid lower to my chin, hanging around for a moment at the corner of my lips. As I hovered over the sink, my eyes watched as the faucet water sank into the dark hole in the middle, twisting and turning around it like some amusement park ride.
"Are you alright?" Jazz asked. From the corner of my eye, I could see her looking at me. Unfortunately, my peripheral vision would allow me the honor of distinguishing what face she showed me. I was half tempted to look, yet I simply went back to the water, taking another handful and dousing my eye lids with the warm sensation.
"No…" I said. I shook my head at my response, and then wet my cheeks once more. Yes…"
"Okay… I'll be going now."
Jazz started for the door, a plate full of what looked to be a sandwich in her hand. The sound of her feet sticking to the floor came to my ear for a moment, yet it stopped. She halted by the table. I wasn't sure why, but I ignored it and shut off the faucet, then dried my face with my shirt.
"Who's this?" she asked.
"Hmm?"
"This photograph. Is it your's?"
"Oh. Yeah, it's mine."
"Well… Who is she?"
"Hiba…" I said quietly.
"Come again?"
"It's my sister. Hiba."
"Hiba… That's a nice name."
"..."
By now, you would think I would have turned around to face her, perhaps head over and take the photo from her. It wasn't exactly her rite to know her, or anything about my personal life, nor did I need to know anything of her. Maybe it'd be better without knowing each other… Yet I didn't move. I still faced the wall.
"She's very pretty," Jazz said. I wondered if she was being honest… Of course she was being honest, Hiba wasn't just pretty, and she was-
"Beautiful," I said, turning around to face her.
"Huh?"
"Hiba wasn't pretty," I said, moving over to the table, where I resumed my sitting position. "She was beautiful."
"Oh…"
She was holding the photo. The thin print card, even in its inexpensiveness, was near priceless to me. I've only had one copy of it made, which currently resides on my desk, back on Alsonair. This copy is the original, which I keep with me in a plastic sleeve, usually tucked in my shirt pocket. Kind of like a good luck charm… No, more like a reminder.
"I'll take that back now."
"Uh, sorry," she said, holding the photo ahead of her. "I just kinda saw it, and started looking at it and all."
"It's alright," I said, taking it from her. I then stowed it away into my shirt pocket, and afterwards, I leaned forward onto my elbows. I lowered my head a little, still exhausted.
"You sure you're alright?"
"Yeah. I just… I just had a nightmare. Nothing big."
"A nightmare? Aren't you a little old for those?"
"It's been a while since I've had one, yes."
I looked over to the door once more, finding the sliding door shut. After a moment, I rested my face in my palms, and slowly began to rub my eyes, feeling the fearsome fatigue starting to sweep over me once more.
"I think I should head back to my room," I said, rising from my seat.
"Well, sleep easy."
"Yup."
I left the mess hall, and entered the not so long hallway that would lead me back to the rooms... room? I'm not sure what you would call the place. The bunk? Barracks? Who knows.
As I walked down the hall, I gazed out the starboard side of the ship. I could see the thousands of the stars we quickly passed with the help of our warp drive. It was strange really, seeing the bright planets and sun becoming simply streaks of white to my eyes.
The view ended as the hallway shifted, leading me to the view of another person, heading my way. Before me walked Hyun, the bounty hunter who I kept my distance from earlier at dinner. We made eye contact, and he chose to stop.
"What are you doing up?" he said.
"Needed a glass of water. You?"
"Same."
"Hmm." I nodded lazily, and then started walking again. "Night."
My ears picked up the sound of his shoes lightly pounding away at the floor. His tempo sounded as if he had something important to do; perhaps he needed to look for something on the ship. He stopped, I continued, but soon I stopped when he called out to me.
"Hey, lieutenant."
"Yeah?" I said, turning around. I found him leaning against the rail on the wall, gazing out to the stars as I had a moment ago.
"You ever been on a ship like this before?"
"I rode a Federation cruiser once," I said.
"Uh-huh… You ever wonder how these warp drives work?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, think about it. There billions upon billions of rocks and debris out in space. The warp engines are pushing us real fast, you know. Just imagine how often we could die, just from hitting a little rock."
"But we don't," I said. I wasn't really in the mood for a space lecture. I just wanted to get to my room. Yet it'd be impolite if I just walked away. Might as well just endure it and answer his little questions.
"And why's that? Hmm?"
"… I don't know."
"Come on, guess."
"Fine… Shields?"
"Maybe, but I don't buy that one. How can a simple Ion shield keep us from blowing up into millions of little pieces?"
"You know, I'm just too tired to think of that right now. So, I'm gonna go ahead and head off to my room."
"Right. Sorry to keep ya."
With that behind me, I turned back around and proceeded to head back to my room. As I nearly got to the end of the hall, I looked back, and found that Hyun was still there, gazing out through the starboard glass. Perhaps he liked it out here in space.
After a quick trek, I made my way back into my room, where I locked the door, then started to shed my clothes. I walked into my personal bathroom, and then started up the shower. I needed to get all this sweat off of me. Once the water had warmed up enough, I stepped in and began to let the warm water soak up my body.
Last note for the night/day/whatEVA! - I don't know if I wrote it already (probably haven't), but if I didn't here goes. This story isn't about Samus kicking more ass and geting some. Kicking ass will happen, but this is character development time. Like I said, I had a new idea for the story, and I'm working on it. Samus WILL be seen, she will talk, yada yada. But the main focus isn't Samus kicking the crap out of more Space pirates and Metroids. Deal? Or no Deal?
Now go and yell at me via Rev's.
