The Assassin Chronicles:
Showdown on New Haven (Part IV)
© 2001 GT gt@dreamsmith.org
It was in the year 158 of the Toward Stars calendar that the power of the Kei Pirates started to wane. The calamitous loss of several key leaders brought about their ongoing decline.
But Nature abhors a vacuum. Rival pirate groups from surrounding areas of space began expanding their own power, taking over territory and resources from the diminished pirate guild. The decline of one group's fortunes led to the rise of the fortunes of others -- those quick and ruthless enough to capitalize on the Kei Pirates' weakness.
Sometimes the conflict was obvious, as with the much publicized space battles between the Kei and Bahn Pirates. Other times, the conflict was far more subtle, occurring in a series of takeovers of shell corporations, back-room deals, and silent murders, without drawing the attention of the public eye.
The Rosu Pirates are not known for their subtlety. This is not because they are not subtle. Rather, it is because are subtle enough to not be widely known. Even their own members are largely ignorant of the true extent of their guild's power and influence across the rimward sectors, and beyond.
It is now the year 167 of the Toward Stars calendar. Behind the scenes, they lurk, pulling the strings of officials, groups, corporations, and governments. Their light is invisible, unseen, but it waxes brighter than it ever has before...
Striper screamed and leaped from her obelisk, straight at Suzuka. As she sailed through the air, her form began to change. Pieces of shredded clothing filled the air like confetti as her beast form exploded outwards. Suzuka brought up her bokudo and held it before her, set to split Striper in two, but with one quick swipe of a paw the sword was batted aside. But Suzuka was quick, too, and leaped sideways off her obelisk before Striper could land on top of her. Instead, Striper sailed past to land deftly on her feet in the square. She quickly turned around and roared.
Suzuka rolled as she landed in the square and quickly bounced to her feet, spinning to face Striper. As she did, she took in Striper's new form. She had seen Ctarl-Ctarl transform into beast-form before, but those she had seen had always transformed into a large, wolf-like creature. Her old friend Aisha Clan-Clan transformed into a huge white wolf-like form with black tiger stripes. Striper had black tiger stripes, but her fur was blood red, and what's more, she had more of the appearance of a tiger than just the stripes. Her entire form was feline, and larger than she remembered Aisha being. Striper rested on four huge paws, with no obvious claws, but Suzuka remembered seeing claws while Striper was leaping at her. Retractable claws, then; in to move silently, out to shred her prey. How convenient.
Striper leaped again, and Suzuka rolled sideways, bringing her sword around as she did in an attempt to split open Striper's side. But Striper suddenly dropped to the ground, much more quickly than the laws of physics would allow, and leaped towards Suzuka again from a different direction. As she dived sideways, Suzuka realized she could not predict where Striper would land when she leaped -- she was using some sort of magic to control her trajectory, changing course in mid-air without touching anything. It was the second surprise on the night, hot on the heals of the first. She had never heard of a Ctarl-Ctarl using Tao magic. She began to worry about what other surprises the cat might have in store for her.
Well, two can play at that game, she thought. As she rolled to the side yet again and sprang to her feet, she shouted a word and amplified it with her will, sending a shock wave through the air towards Striper. The sonic attack caught Striper in midair, propelling her backwards towards the fountain. Striper changed her course, landing on top of one of the corner obelisks, but Suzuka was right behind her. She sliced through the base of the obelisk with her sword, and the entire obelisk fell backwards into the fountain.
Suzuka's eyes scanned the water, but Striper was nowhere to be seen. What the hell? The water's not that deep. She glanced around, quickly checking the tops of the other obelisks, the square, the nearby buildings. No Striper. She had disappeared.
Damn. Not good. Not good at all. I know she's still watching me, waiting for me to give up, turn around, make some stupid mistake. She looked back into the fountain at the pieces of the fallen obelisk. Could she have been crushed under one of the falling blocks? That would be too convenient. Where could she be?
Suzuka continued to stare into the water, watching the moonlight reflect on the gentle waves, still bouncing around after having been kicked up by several tons of granite falling into the fountain. As she looked at the moon's reflection in the waves, she imagined she could see a face. The fabled "Man In The Moon"? A pair of eyes looked back into hers. A pair of feline eyes.
She brought her sword up as Striper burst out of the water. Again, a great paw attempted to bat the sword aside, but Striper moved her sword quickly, twisting her grip slightly as she pulled quickly downwards, slicing into the paw. But the other paw swiped at her, and although she tried to dodge, she felt several sharp claws tear through her dress and into her side as she passed.
The two quickly turned to face each other, panting and staring into each others eyes. Suzuka kept both her hands on her sword, but as she moved her right arm downwards and pressed her elbow against her side, she felt the warm wetness of fresh blood. Not good. But lying on the ground between the two of them was most of a tiger-paw. Striper was standing on three legs, holding one foreleg in the air, where blood dripped from a mostly severed paw. Suzuka grinned.
"I think I got the best of that exchange, don't you?"
Striper snarled something inarticulate. But it didn't sound like she was impressed. In fact, it almost sounded like... laughter?
Suzuka got her third surprise of the night. As she watched in horror, the half-severed paw began to regrow. In a matter of seconds, it was whole again, and Striper placed it firmly on the ground, resuming a normal stance. She looked Suzuka in the eye and gave her a wide, toothy tiger-grin.
"Shit."
Suzuka was keenly aware of the expanding wetness on her right side. This fight was going to be over in a few minutes, one way or the other. She knew a little magic herself, but even she could only tolerate so much blood loss before loosing consciousness. She had to end this, now! But Striper was extremely fast, extremely strong, and capable of regenerating, possibly from anything short of an immediately lethal blow. Now what?
Striper suddenly charged. Suzuka leaped backwards, spinning in the air and taking off towards the buildings on the south side of the square. The museum district's famous planetarium was clearly visible, it's great dome silhouetted against the city's well lit skyline. It was time to test a theory.
As she approached the planetarium, she leaped up onto the roof, ducked to one side, then leaped back off. She watched Striper's lithe tiger form sail overhead to land on the roof where she had just been as she landed before the planetarium's front doors. She quickly bolted though them. She had verified earlier that the planetarium was open 24 hours. She thought it was funny that people would go indoors to look at the stars during the night, but after seeing how the lights of Paradise City drowned out the stars, even at midnight, she understood. In any case, she locked the doors behind her as she passed. Every little bit helps.
She was almost completely across the lobby when she heard Striper crash through the glass doors. She didn't bother to look back, simply continuing down the hallway into one of the side exhibit rooms. It was a tiny theater, set up to show movies on a small screen, a short feature or two while one waited for the main show on the planetarium's big dome. She hit the button on the wall to start the presentation as she dashed by it. She didn't stop running until she was right up against the far side of the room, which was starting to come to life with the images of the short movie currently in the projector. As the majestic music started to fill the room, a huge blood red tiger walked into the theater.
Striper's lips pulled back, revealing huge fangs and razor-sharp teeth. There was no pretense at stealth now, her extended claws made a clicking noise as she walked slowly into the theater, grinning her toothy tiger-grin. Again, a snarl sounding almost like laughter emerged. She stared at Suzuka, at the front of the theater, with no way out except the way she came in. A way now blocked by her. There was nowhere left for her prey to run. She watched Suzuka's fragile form, holding a wooden sword, white dress slowly turning red from the blood flowing from her right side, giving that oh so sweet smell. And also turning a reddish orange from the light of the movie projector. The narrator's voice filled the room as the feature began.
"The Sun. No matter where you go in the galaxy, no matter what planet you visit, there is always one special star in the sky. The star that brings day to the world, that brings life. The stars have many names, but to local inhabitants, there is always one that gets that special title: The Sun."
Striper's eyes took in the image on the screen with a growing horror, as Suzuka slowly began to grin. She could see the change taking place. The Ctarl-Ctarl were nocturnal hunters, and their beast-form was closely tied to moonlight. One thing they could never do was maintain it in the face of the sun. Within moments, it was not a great tiger but a naked Ctarl-Ctarl woman standing before Suzuka.
"Shall we continue?" Suzuka asked. Not waiting for an answer, she leaped forward, her sword coming down in a giant overhead arc.
But Striper wasn't there when she landed. She bolted out the door. Suzuka began to run after her, but by the time she reached the square, she was starting to feel dizzy. The blood was flowing from her side faster than ever. I can't run any more like this. It'll kill me. She retreated back into the planetarium and made a vid-call.
Twenty minutes later, a car drove up before the planetarium. A woman in a red and white dress left the planetarium and got into the car, which sped off quickly. From the shadows, a Ctarl-Ctarl watched in hatred as it passed from sight.
Hanson sat at his desk, looking over earnings reports. The midday sun shined through his picture window, illuminating his office brightly. As he scanned the documents, looking for ways to squeeze additional profits out of his enterprises, his assistant entered the room.
"We have made contact with the assassin. She was willing to take part in our plan. In fact, she seemed quite enthusiastic about it. Apparently, she has a rather deep hatred for Twilight."
"Splendid. But are you sure she can kill her?"
"They apparently fought one another last night, and although neither killed the other, we were able to recover some blood from the scene, and it all appears to be one woman's. One human woman's, that is. Our intelligence also confirms a woman was treated for fairly serious wounds at a nearby hospital last night, using an ID with the name Susan Khan. The ID appeared legit, but we've tentatively flagged it as belonging to the assassin Twilight. We're currently tracking its use."
"You expect it will be used again?"
"Frankly, no. I suspect she destroyed it immediately after leaving the hospital. But you never know. We may get lucky."
"I don't believe in luck, Ms. Anders."
"Indeed, Mr. Hanson. My apologies. In any case, we have good reason to think our assassin almost killed Twilight last night, and may actually do so on the next attempt. Even if not, we don't really lose anything if she doesn't."
"I disagree. We may not lose any of our own people, but we'll lose an important opportunity. I want to make sure she succeeds, Ms. Anders. See to it that she does."
"As you say."
A few minutes after his assistant left, Hanson walked over to his picture window, overlooking Paradise City. The noonday sun beat down on it, waves of heat distorting it, causing the streets to slither, and the skyscrapers to dance.
"We make our own luck, my dear, as surely as we make our own worlds. Or should I say, as surely as we make worlds ours..."
To be continued...