Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate. ~ Thomas Jones
Chapter Three
Stab In The Back
The busy launch port swirled with noise as well as travellers from near and far. She weaved her way through the crowd, not hesitating to shove harshly with her shoulder. A faint trail of loud indignation followed her as she made her way to the ramshackle section of hangars in the back. They may be used for spare parts but she knew what else lay there.
"Where are you?" she called loudly as she barged into one of the more derelict ones.
Silence echoed out through area, dust streaming down the faint dirty beams of sunlight that made it through the filthy windows. She weaved her way through the mazelike grounds until she found a door. Kicking it open, she narrowed her eyes as the man behind the desk scrambled up from underneath it.
"Oh...I d-d-didn't he-hear you co-come in." he stammered as he ran a hand through his matted blond hair. "What can I do for you?" he managed to get the last part out evenly albeit squeaky and high pitched with fear.
"I want my ship ready to go in the next forty five minutes. Any delays had better have a good explanation."
"Ye-Yes." he said eagerly nodding his head.
"Because you know what happens when you give me an unacceptable explanation?" she grabbed his throat and slammed him against the wall. His failure still wasn't past her.
"I know," he croaked. "I would never try that with you."
"Good, I should hope not. We don't want a repeat of last time now do we? You couldn't even keep them there long enough like I wanted." she tightened her grip a bit.
He thrashed as he clutched at her hand, heels making the wall vibrate. "Let me go please, I'll do-"
"You are starting to disappoint me." she stated in a cold voice.
The man's face went deathly white as his eyes grew large before squeezing shut. She sniffed, smelling a sudden acrid odour. When she looked down and saw the puddle of yellowish liquid on the floor, she let go, leaving the man to drop into the puddle.
"Disgusting, have some control over yourself." she said as she walked away. "Forty five minutes."
"Forty five minutes," he coughed out as he clutched at his throat. "I got ya."
She walked away quickly, weaving her way through the large parts. When she spotted the door, she paused seeing shadows come up in the longish rectangle on the ground. Muttering a faint curse, she ducked back into the maze, making for the secondary exit at the back.
"Hello? Are you here Matt?"
She gritted her teeth as Khujesta's voice echoed out through the ceiling. She made it to the emergency exit and pushed it open; the alarm didn't work on this door anyhow. Once she stepped outside, she froze seeing a pair of blue eyes that found hers. The door fell shut with a heavy thud but they still didn't move until one of them broke the silence.
"What are you doing here?"
Khujesta pushed aside a small piece of rusting metal. "Matt, I just heard a door, where are you?" she looked over at Gene.
"What do you expect me to do about it?" he asked, crossing his arms, irritated by her expectant expression. "I'm here to protect you, not make the moron answer you."
"Back here." came a somewhat faint response.
"Took the idiot long enough." Gene muttered. 'We got paid again, and this is my job. One more like this and we'll be debt free...if I'm not already dead.' He looked up at the tall stacks of parts as Khujesta walked through them quickly. "Good idea. One of these may 'accidentally' fall over."
"My sentiments exactly." Khujesta murmured. "And it's...dear God Matt, what happened?"
Gene looked up sharply as they came out into the space at the back. There was a questionable yellow puddle on the floor, while Matt was standing there in not so clean looking boxers with a sheepish and angry look on his face.
"Some dog made it in here and took a piss. Guess what I slipped in." he said in a hurt voice as his fist clenched the bunched up pants in his hands. "And this was my spare pair."
"Don't worry about it; I'm sure there's something that you can wear in here." Khujesta said. "Let's go in the office and talk."
Gene wrinkled his nose at the smell; he may not know where his next pay was coming from but at least his underwear was clean. Hs paused by the wall, noticing a ridged imprint, like little valleys...no, more like knuckles. He rubbed his finger against it lightly, small flecks drifting down to the floor.
"Hey Matt," he said, walking in. "Did the dog punch your wall as well as piss on your floor?"
"Gene!" Khujesta said in a shocked tone. "He's not-"
"Can't answer?" he said, cutting off Khujesta as he gave Matt an intent look.
"No. I-That's been there since I set up shop here." Matt's face burned bright red with humiliation.
Gene simply gave a huff and leaned against the wall as Khujesta and Matt talked. There was no way something like that was there for awhile. Having given and taken enough punches, he knew something fresh when he saw it. That had to have happened a few minutes ago. It was bad enough that they were heading up to space, but to go into space with the help of a man who was starting to become highly questionable? That wasn't going to happen if he had anything to say about it.
"I could say the same for you."
She paused at his quiet words. "Why are you back here in the alley?"
"Keeping watch for anyone who may come out." his lips twitched slightly. "And it seems that someone did."
"Don't get cute." she suddenly said in a choked voice; how much it was like before, only then it was much more innocent. "Too cute for your own good." she muttered.
"Uptight." he responded back automatically with a smile that came and went. "What were you doing in there anyways?"
"Is this an interrogation?" she fought to gain control; he probably never realized what he just did.
"No. Just wondering what a pretty girl's doing here of all places, that's all."
"Now you're trying to hit on me?"
"No, no." he suddenly became very flustered and shook his head and hands. "I didn't mean that!" he had a nervous laugh.
She paused looking at him as chaotic emotions started to roil inside her. His laughter mingled with hers, the piggy back rides, the Thanksgiving dinners of regimented and boring gruel, then the fire, the... She broke into a run, knocking him to the ground as hot tears started to sting here eyes. His voice was faint as he called after her. Ignoring it, she continued to run, making her way to the main launch hangar. There at the end was her ship, the black paint gleaming pristinely under the bright fluorescent lights. His voice came from behind her, making her redouble her efforts to run. She didn't want to deal with this, with him, now; she couldn't, not when she was like this. She slammed her hand against the console, making the door open. She ran in and shut the door, leaning against it as the tears started to slide down her face.
"Hey, come on. I didn't mean to upset you. I'm sorry. Could you come out of there?" his voice was faint, not broken by any banging against the door.
She closed her eyes and walked away, her heart feeling as if it was bleeding inside; for so long she worked on making herself cold and impenetrable as ice. Now in one meeting, one short conversation, he managed to make it through and make her feel horrible. He made her feel again and she never wanted to do that again.
"I'll give you credit though, you kept up with me and no one's done that before." she wiped the tears away and made her way up to the cockpit.
She wiped away the stray tears that fell and started up the computer before she hacked her way into the launch schedule, slating her ship up next. A few minutes later, she felt the familiar tug and bump as the ship was pulled out. Bright sunlight flooded the cockpit as she buckled herself up and took hold of the steering wheels.
"All right you are clear for launch." came the automated sounding voice.
"Roger that." she said.
It seemed incredibly hard to even make herself guide the ship through the atmosphere and into space. She was leaving him down there, again; how could she do that? Had she become so -
"Damn him," she angrily spat. "Look how he's messed me up. I don't need him after all, and I don't need these wretched feelings. "
She made the sleek vessel blast through the vacuum towards her destination as she gunned the engine. With the Styx conference in a few days, she had some work to do. But she could still hear Jim's voice in her mind, the lone word echoing around tauntingly.
Gene gave a sigh of irritation as Khujesta started to wheedle another deal out of Matt; so far, he had flatly refused every single thing she had brought to the table. "This has been real nice," he began, grasping Khujesta's arm firmly. "But we must be off. Later moron."
"Gene, what are you doing?" Khujesta demanded as she was dragged along behind Gene through the maze and towards the door.
"Ending this." he hissed. "I am done dealing with that guy in any way. I didn't trust him before and I really don't trust him now! If you want to go to the damn conference on Blue Heaven then we'll go! "
"Gene, this is ridiculous; Matt has helped me from day one."
"You mean helped himself and probably whoever tried to kill you and me. Let's see if Jim has anything interesting to say."
Gene walked outside, hearing a banging noise get louder and louder every time. When he walked outside, he found Jim kicking an upturned trashcan on the ground, the large dent visible from where he was. He paused for a few minutes watching before he walked up to Jim and turned him around. Jim stopped before he turned back around and gave the can a final kick.
"What was that about?"
"I messed up." he muttered. "There was this girl who came out the door."
"A girl in black?"
"Yeah. Black hair, green eyes, white skin."
"Where did she go?" Gene grabbed hold of Jim's shoulders as if he was going to shake him.
"She's right up there." Jim said pointing to the sky.
Gene looked up to see a black ship disappear behind a cloud and not reappear. "Damn it! How did that happen Jim? You were supposed to stop her!"
"Stop her?! I could barely keep up with her! She runs too fast. Like she-"
"She does have enhanced muscle structure." Khujesta said in a somewhat timid voice. "Does that help?"
"No, it doesn't." Jim said in tight voice. "But I know where she is heading anyways as well as her ship's name and registry number."
"Good work." Gene said as he ran a hand through his hair. "Where do we have to go after this damn conference?" he shot Khujesta a look.
"That's the thing Gene." Jim grinned slightly. "We both have the same destination."
"Even better, that means less fuel money." Gene said thoughtfully. "What's her ship registry number and name?"
"VSR-686," Jim paused. "Ship's name is-"
"The Serpentis."
"Serpentis." Jim corrected. "Does that mean something to you?"
"Uh, no, not at all." Khujesta said quickly as she pulled on Gene's shirt. "The sooner we go and get what, or who, else needs to come on the trip, we can get going."
Gene nodded and started after Khujesta. Not noticing Jim beside him, he looked back. Jim was gazing up in the sky, where the Serpentis had been.
"Jade..." Jim's word was faint and barely heard.
He didn't say anything as Jim fell in step beside him and remained silent. Now wasn't exactly the time for words between them.