By Right: Hunt, Part 1
By TerraMGP
You can‘t go home again. For most of her life Taya always found that idiom rather silly. Having been sold off from such an early age to Yggdrasil and shuffled between so many different programs and instillations, truth was the idea always seemed rather hokey.
Yet standing in the overly large receiving area, a big marble floored black room decorated with holographic banners of the various corporations within Yggdrasil along with the first set of power armor Runa had trained in stationed to one side, it was hard for the young woman to push back that uncomfortably foreign tingle of nostalgia.
There was the usual monotony, naturally. Waiting for Runa to receive her. Gods only knew she was probably busy as hell since getting back. Even with Siv to manage much of it, who knew how much Runa had chosen to manage alone or what her rather odd behavior this past year or so had really kicked up among the rather rigid elite of the company.
When the main doorway did finally slide open, Taya was greeted with a treat. A pair of rather cute boys. Though most would never be able to tell. The pair were exquisitely feminine. Both moving in a delightful unison as they came in and gave a deep long curtsy to the Thylacine. Pink and purple hair dyed for each so that it‘d be so very easy to mistake them for one another if one were to look away. Not that she planned to do so.
“Mistress will see you now, M‘lady.” The two chimed in a sweet falsetto. Both trembling with embarrassment as they parted. Runa followed not too far behind. A simple tunic and leather vest along with a pair of loose wool pants and bare feet. Something to further contrast the sharp blue-grey formality of Taya‘s uniform.
It took all the decorum Runa had not to dash the few strides between the hallway and her friend. Quickly embracing the Thylacine, gaining both a yelp of surprise and a nice tight hug in return. “Taya! Mmmm it‘s good to see you!”
“Gak! Can‘t breath!” Taya gasped in mock pain. Giving several pats on the back before finally pulling free and gasping. “Seriously, calm down Princess. You just saw me like, what a week ago? When you got here.“
“It was far more than a week.“ Runa sighed “They really have been keeping you busy, haven’t they?“ The two finally broke apart and Runa looked her over a bit. Smirking ear to ear and shaking her head “Isn‘t this a bit formal for a visit with an old friend? Not going to start treating me like the boss just yet are you?”
Taya looked down at her own, somewhat disheveled uniform and let out a sigh. Tugging firmly at the stiff fabric. “No time to change. Like you said princess, busy.”
“Too busy.” Runa muttered with a playful snarl. She looked back at the maids and snapped her fingers, pointing to one of them. “Ashley, be kind enough to tell Siv will be having company for dinner.”
“yes Mistress“ One of the practically identical boys chirped as he darted awkwardly down the hallway. The other standing still with a small twinge of discomfort as his twin left. One that only grew when Runa turned to head down the hallway, the remaining maid following along allowing Taya to bring up the rear.
“Mind if I ask what happened to the old maids?” Taya muttered. Her eyes darting around the hallways carefully. Methodically scanning for anything that might indicate that the whole suite wasn’t simply locked in some strange singularity. She glanced back at the fox boy again. His tail swishing and twitching haphazardly. Fluttering his somewhat modest skirt around while he kept in a carefully offset synch with Runa’s pace.
Runa snerked softly and reached out to run a finger along the wainscoting, collecting a small mote of dust which was instantly and roughly smeared over the front of the fox bois blouse. “I gave them back to mother not long after you graduated from those simulators they kept sticking you in. They were all her trinkets after all. Just like the nannies. I’m sure they’re much happier being under her boot now anyways.”
They made it to the end of the hallway. It took the boy a moment to realize his Mistress had turned around and he fumbled over himself quickly to get behind her and back into a proper position. Runa herself let out a small sigh and glanced at the old great room. A pair of chairs and low table sitting before a warm crackling fire. A slice of rustic charm made ostentatious simply by being dragged out into space.
“Go on, have a seat.” Runa chuckled as she gestured her old friend towards the chairs “I mean they might seem a bit big now. Though I could always have Siv print up a couple of upscaled replicas.”
Taya hesitated for a moment. She looked at the familiar old things. Scuffed and scratched, white oak with plush red upholstery. The woman spared her old friend a small smile before making her way around the closest one Her paw tracing along the arm, along the intricate carvings hanging under the front lip of the chair. She paused a moment to trace her fingers over a small gap, a hairline crack. The end result of a nine year old pup’s weight as she knelt with her gut hunched against the front of the chair, building a small roster of fighters for a war game like the cunning little strategist she absolutely had not been at that age.
The odd pause didn’t go by Runa unnoticed Her smile only growing as she passed the back of the chair and made her way towards a small bar set pushed against the far wall. She selected a pair of carefully cut crystal highball glasses. The company logo carefully laser-etched into the bottoms. Gods only knew which relative saw fit to so utterly brand even the familial heirlooms.
“So I can trust this is a friendly visit, Taya? Nothing more?” Runa chimed playfully. She glanced to the twin, whichever one it was, standing there nervously and shifting as he looked between the two women. Terrified at not knowing what to do. Somewhere Siv and Eleanor were dealing with the other boi, and hopefully seeing some effects of that adorable terror transferring over.
“What else would it be?” Taya muttered the words as she shifted into the chair. The thing feeling so impossibly small now. Its size hitting her with an odd sense of betrayal. “I admit I wanted to come sooner. Maybe bring my little data officer along to show her what the C.O. did with her free time Back when I had free time.”
A scoff, and a smile. Both looking just slightly wrong on Runa’s face. “So it wasn’t just to take one of my new toys for a spin? Or because you figured you could get answers out of me others can’t?”
“What answers?” Taya muttered
Runa’s smirk only grew. She tugged at a tight stopper in a large crystal bottle, slowly and carefully twisting the thing in the hopes of getting it free without chipping or shattering the old bottle itself She gazed at Taya for a long time. Watching the mask of aloofness falling away. Watching her old friend fidget and squirm in frustration.
It was a new look for Taya. One not altogether unpleasant.
“It’s not like people don’t talk. I’m sure you’ve heard plenty. To be honest I was rather curious to hear just what kind of gossip you’ve picked up over my ‘antics’ of late. Come on now, I’m sure you’ve heard at least a few things Right? Gods know all the little CEOs and other executives who insisted on seeing me when we got here had their cute little theories. I can‘t imagine our glorious navy fleet and all the mercenary companies haven‘t cooked up their own little guesses.” Runa chuckled, more to herself than Taya.
“I donno. I mean, not to be glib or anything but everyone is saying you went out there to prove yourself. Plenty of the fresh recruits are talking about how you’re setting up some kind of personal army or police force. The brass, well the ones I talk to. Push comes to shove they say that you’re just trying to make some company like Sean did. Just hoping to prove something to your Mother.”
“Mother?” Runa scoffed a bit and looked down at the empty glass before her. Her mind drifting lightyears away. “Mother has never understood.” The crystal top of the decanter finally yielded with a loud pop, offering up the thick dull amber of its contents into a pair of crystal cut glasses.
Taya leaned forward and narrowed her eyes. She clutched her hands before her, gnawing at the corner of her lip and digging her boot firmly into the floor. “What are you doing out there, Princess?” She sighed.
Even the smallest noises quickly sucked out of the room. Taya could see her old friend, her liege, slowly rolling herself over the small liquor table. The noble bearings and regale posture softening like butter on toast. Then a moment later she righted herself. Everything just as it had been, at least on the surface.
“I was hoping you’d understand, Taya. You of anyone.” An odd smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. Runa sauntered her way over and offered one of the glasses to her old friend. She took a small step back and let the full weight of her body slump down into the hardy old chair.
Runa looked up at Taya, then down to her glass. Her thumb resting on the rim as it stroked slowly up one side and down the other. Curving along the U shape in slow and not quite rhythmic strokes. “What I’m doing out there. What I’ve been doing. It’s… important. I‘m trying to do something important.”
“Like what? Your own little personal slave company or something? I mean, more power to you Princess. But it‘s not like you really need to. Certainly not from some dead end failed launching point at the edge of our territory.”
“No no. Nothing like that. Not really” Runa glanced to the fire and sighed. For a moment, just the barest splinter of a second, Taya was sure could see grey on the tips of Runa’s neck fur.
“There’s something missing, Taya. Something wrong. Something, I don’t know. Hollow.” The weary wolf turned her face to her friend and watched the Thylacine wince. She let her eyes slip shut to spare the woman, or maybe to spare herself. “I don’t know how to put it to words. I don’t even know if I can find it. I just want to understand. I need to understand, Taya.”
“Understand what?” Taya punctuated herself by downing most of the warm spirits in one hard throw. “I want to understand, Runa. Believe me I do. More than anything. But you’re not giving me anything to work with. You go out into the middle of nowhere with barely any security. Then you send most of them away even after an attack. You only take seven slaves at the start and by all accounts the only one who was going to be for, whatever it is you planned, got dragged off.”
Runa did her best to follow suit with the hard swig. What little she got down just sat in her mouth and throat like a pile of ash. “She was a dumb little doe anyways.” the wolf spat.
“Then why take her?” Taya sighed insistently.
“Because she was important!” A hard smack sent a thud through the room and left a thin red trickle running down Runa’s palm where it had hit the ornamentation of her armrest. She pulled back to see the wood had split cleanly. Dark droplets of blood already settling in between the split itself. She turned her palm up and looked it over slowly. Flexing the wound resting right in the center.
“It’s important, Taya. Even if I have to give them a brainless trinket to convince them. Things aren’t working anymore. The tree isn’t working anymore.”
The pair both spared a glance to the now trembling fox boy standing in the corner. His body shifting and tensing, clearly debating if he should call for help or not while those sharp little green eyes fixed firmly on the nasty gash in his Mistress’ palm.
His worry was greeted with a dismissive little wave from the wolf. She gripped one of the sleeves of her simple cotton shirt and began to tear it, using her claw to help make a smooth straight line. She then wrapped the makeshift bandage tightly around her palm. Giving one firm tug to assure the boy before shifting her attention back to her guest.
“Let me ask you something, Taya. When was the last time anything changed? Really changed? The last time Yggdrasil did something to advance. Grandmother? That last war with those prideful tin cans was going to end anyways. No way Avalon could have kept it up for much longer. Or us for that matter. Then she just took that ‘accomplishment’ and waited until she was ready to let mother take her place.”
Taya braced herself. Runa twitching her hand and only barely stopping herself from smashing the fine cut crystal glass down on the floor. Instead she slumped back and set it comfortably out of easy reach. The wolf slowly reaching up to tug the small silver pendant from under her shirt. She didn’t look at it, simply gripped it in between her thumb and forefinger.
Seeing it set Taya back into an odd limbo. Her head swimming and body trembling. She recognized it. The scared little prayer Runa would slip into whenever things got too much for her. Every muscle in Taya’s body screamed to get up, to hug her as she so often had in the past. To find some way she could make this better.
Gods but it was all so simple back then.
“Sorry.” The voice that finally spoke seemed to be Runa’s once more. Cool, confident, controlled. She’d returned to what the unobservant would have called a relaxed state and put on an oh so fake smile that wanted desperately to be genuine. “I guess I’m just getting a bit carried away. This is the first time since I got this whole thing started where I’ve had a chance to really just decompress. I think I needed it.”
“Like Hel.” Taya chuckled. “You don’t decompress, princess. We both know better.”
“Hey now, you remember the time I took you back here to teach you how to play battlers?”
“and got mad when I tried to make up stories instead of leaning the rules?” Taya smirked.
Runa narrowed her eyes and growled playfully. “Yeah, well, how about the time Sean took us to that Dive theater amusement park-”
“And you insisted on planning out the order for doing the rides based on their proximity to each other, even though we had the whole program to ourselves.”
Runa slipped back into her chair and growled once more. Long locks of hair falling before her face revealing some of the brilliant gem like rainbow color lovingly dyed onto the inside. It fell before her blue eye and dangled there despite her attempts to blow it clear, finally forcing Runa to tuck it back behind her ear. “I am not uptight.” The girl finally pouted. “And besides. You’re the one doing military work now. I would think you’d support a bit of structure.”
“Never said I don’t.” Taya shrugged. “My job’s to call you on it though. Nothing wrong with you, Runa. Other than you can’t let things go. And it’s taking a lot out of you. I, look. You know I’ll be there for you, Princess. Always have been always will be. Part of that means I get to worry.”
“Yeah I know. And I mean, I worry too.” Runa muttered.
“About everything.” Taya chimed softly. “It’s not a bad thing. It’s just not always healthy. Ya know?”
“Depends on what you have to worry about.” The wolf slipped her eyes shut and slumped back into a heap Her tail twitching between the back and seat of the carefully carved chair. She let herself slowly sway from side to side in an off-beat with her twitching tail.
The two sat that way for the longest time. Neither speaking. Neither looking to each other. Neither speaking. The waters of time slowly ebbing back oh so long ago eroding away all but their very cores.
When Runa finally spoke again her voice was far clearer. Much of the weariness faded and muted, though not altogether gone. “If it’s any consolation we have some time to catch up at least. I want my newest ‘acquisition’ found before I leave. If only to know she’s not running around causing headaches, or getting shot up by our lovely Corpsec officers.”
“Yeah. They’ve really made a great showing in the past couple years, huh?” Taya smirked.
“I’m surprised my brother hasn’t found a way to get every senior officer on the station sent off to guard asteroid mines, considering what he’s been though.” Runa chuckled “Frankly I think I’ll have to contract one of the mercenary guilds to do the job. This isn’t something where a snappy uniform and stun baton will do them much good.”
Taya set the glass down on the small table between the two chairs and grinned ear to ear. Her eyes flicking over only a moment as one of the two maids quickly made his way over and scooped up the near empty glass, giving Taya a small nervous glance to ensure he was allowed to take it away before doing so. The soft wiggle of his hips enough to keep her eyes fixated for several long moments. “That’s half the reason I’m here.” The now distracted soldier chuckled “I was going to go looking for her myself. With your permission, naturally.”
“You?” Runa’s ears perked. “Wouldn’t that interfere with that whole rise to greatness thing your handlers have planned out? I mean it’s not like they can exactly sell the case of your training for wider use if you’re wasting time digging around for a lost slave.”
“A slave who was a match for you. Who got out of your quarters. This doesn’t require a detective, Princess. You need a hunter. We both know it.”
Runa nodded softly and shifted around in her seat. A few telltale glances showing her looking over a few AR readouts. Taya simply let it happen, but couldn’t help but shift uncomfortably at the divided attention.
“There’s more to it, isn’t there?” Runa sighed.
“We’ve been trying to keep a lid on it. But things have been getting tense with NA. They heard about the girl. Apparently they want her found.”
“She’s mine.” Runa snapped “I conquered her fairly.
“I don’t think they want her back, Princess. They want answers. With the way things are right now, probably best to give em whatever we can.”
“Answers to what?” Runa quizzed.
“I don’t know. But we both know a few hired goons won’t be much more help digging that girl out on a station this big. Besides I could use the challenge. Of course, since she is your property…”
“Permission granted.” Runa yipped. “Just be careful If it comes down to her or you, I’d rather lose a fascinating trinket than you. That’s an order.”
“Like I follow those.” Taya blurted out. Her eyes once again scanned the room. Maybe it was the shift in Runa’s mood. Maybe it was the alcohol kicking in. But she could swear it had gotten brighter.
This shift in mood wasn’t lost on Runa. A small flick of her finger sending off a message to Siv as she slumped back into her chair and murred. “You know if you want to get a bit more acquainted with my new little maids I’d be more than happy to make the arrangements.” She chuckled
“Oh such a sweet offer!” Taya murred “I think you know my answer to that.”
“Though I assume that raises the other half of why you showed up, yes? See just what it was I’d dug up on the little dirt ball?”
Taya’s smile faded. Not much. Just a few cracks around the edges, plastered up with a bigger and far more false grin. “Oh yeah. That. Well, no actually. The main reason I came was actually more about the old woman.”
Runa went still once more. Her chest heaving in a few deep cautionary breaths. Each one hanging far longer than it had any right to. “How is she?”
“Still in the early stages. She could remain that way for the next couple of years, honestly. Hard to tell. She said she wants to see you while you’re here. I think she’s worried about how long she has before it starts up again. I’ve been keeping up.”
“No seizures since last year.” Runa nodded. “yeah. I have too.
Taya nodded softly and sighed. “She’s still refusing the procedure. She’s almost progressed to the point where it will be a matter for Kin. Though she’s still more than lucid enough. Almost seems wrong. Outside of the haze and the headaches.”
Runa sighed and finally pulled herself up fro the chair. Leg fidgeting. The weight of stress slowly creeping back into her voice as she looked down at Taya. “What did her kids have to say about that, then? I admit I’ve never been close to them.”
“Same.” Taya sighed. “Not that it matters.”
“And why… doesn’t it matter?” Runa leaned in closely and tilted her head to get some read on her friends face. Trying to finally look Taya in the eye, to get something out of this raw chaos and confusion.
“She, well… The thing is”
“Yes?” Runa muttered quizzically
Frustration crept into Taya‘s voice once more. She ran a hand though her thick mane of hair only for it to fall back into her face once more. “It’s not their decision. It’s ours. The man representing her estate told me about a month ago. She gave full rights over control of her are to the two of us, jointly, about six months ago.”
Runa clapped her hands together gleefully and all but pranced around the small table to look down at Taya. Her tail waggling like a puppy as she offered a hand to help the other woman up. “Well then problem solved. I’ll get back to my new crack surgical team. They already proved themselves with Bi, no reason to think they’d fail at a simple procedure like this, right? By next week we could-”
“It’s not that simple.” Taya snapped, shoving the offered hand away
“It’s not? Taya, what are you not telling me?” Runa’s voice lowered. Her body tensing once more as she shifted in her seat. “Taya, look at me.” She growled “What aren’t you telling me?” Those two orbs fell on Taya like a hammer. A fiery edge and cold, mechanical lifelessness bearing down on the Thylacine with an unimaginable weight held behind them.
Try as she might, Taya found herself unable to look away. Obligation. Guilt. Fear. Gods only knew what it was that kept her fixed on the terrible mismatched eyes. “I don’t know if we should force this on her.” The words came slowly. Tasting of ash and sulfur on her tongue. “She made it damn clear she didn’t want to risk it. That she was worried about what the implant will do to her. It, it’s not right to make her live though that if its going to make her suffer.”
“Oh you cannot be serious right now.” Runa snapped. “So what? We’re just supposed to lose her? Let her go? Because the old woman still has some fucked up little luddite phobia?”
“She doesn’t even like to keep her jack on, Runa.” Taya pushed herself up from the chair and stiffened. Her posture shifting almost instantly. All the fear and shame, everything negative shoved back under the sea of cold focus she’d spent so long cultivating. “You don’t have any other wetware in your head. Well, I mean nothing like this. It’s not like a jack, or even like your eye. You freaking notice it when a coprocessor is running. Probably even more so when it’s taking over for half of a gods-damned lobe. If she really wants to just let things play out this way. If she knows the risks. Maybe we need to respect her wishes.”
“You mean we should let a sick woman turn down treatment because you feel guilty? Just watch her fade away because you don’t have the balls to make the right decision? Because you’re worried a little bit of chrome is going to make her mad at you?”
“Yeah well maybe I don’t want to be the one to force it on her!” Taya finally snapped.
The two just stood there. Silent. Dumbfounded. Taya opening and closing her muzzle gods knew how many times. Her knees shaking weak and helpless. Her fists digging red furrows into her palms. The torrent of emotions finally breaking her footing. “Look. I didn’t…”
“We can talk about this later.” Runa muttered coldly.
“Runa, I.”
“Later.” She snapped. The wolf turned from her old friend and moved to the fireplace. Her hand reaching out to grip the mantle as her claws bit into the old woo. Taya could catch traces of red staining the face of the thick slab as Runa’s palm slid along it.
“You’re in charge with finding Gwenhwyfar.” She muttered coldly. “Do whatever you have to. Just don’t get yourself fucking killed.”
“Yes, Lady Runa.” The words came with a sharp mechanical snap to them. Everything else buried under the old steel shell of her training. Taya punctuated them with a sharp salute and then turned on her heel. Marching like a tin soldier to of the familiar old room.
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There was a definite shift as one made their way out to the stations rim. Something only barely resting on the edge of perception. Not a sound, or a sight. Some nameless, formless sensation growing duller and longer the further one got from the hub where the wealthy and powerful made their homes.
One could argue the whole thing was psychological. Real cities on real planets tended to be very different after all. The poor wandering though urban centers or wandering off into the vast untamed wilderness of worlds establishing what little community they could. Bountiful resources to offset the great risks at least offering some shred of autonomy and hope.
Here, even that was denied to them. Almost all of the station’s classless instead jammed like lab animals into tight labyrinths of meter-wide hallways.. Tarnished plastics and metals moving in a pattern likely logical back when the station was first being built all those centuries ago. Uncounted souls compressed into the small space between life and void, with only the bustling port sections studded between their decrepit realms there to offer some place to collect scraps, and remind them of how low their lives really were.
On the other hand it could have just as easily been physical. The ancient mechanics which kept the overall station functioning got only the needed upgrades and repair to keep ‘real’ citizens alive. Odds were good that nobody really knew just what kind of cobbled, rebuilt mess was humming and grinding away around the disused hovels.
Whatever the reason, something haunted these hallways. Something old and unnamed, running though the long broken flat displays lining the wall and the peeling plastic tile which once held a brilliant white sheen. Figures in tattered rags mulled about though the narrow halls and open gaps largely made of smashed-in walls leaving what were once habitable worker barracks and tool storage rooms as mingling places and battlegrounds. Young men and women in tattered dock worker uniforms. Figures laughing and ribbing each other on cushions made of old rags. Around them were all manner of crude weapons. Makeshift swords and axes ground down from wall plating. Heavy spanners wrapped in cloth an studded with crudely bonded metal nubs or ground to a machete-edge. A few of the more decorated individuals even held long makeshift tubes fused to the guts of old plasma welders or large crude magnets.
The men and women made no attempt to hide these crude tools, and indeed there mere presence seemed enough to ensure most of the ragged and broken wretches littering the narrow halls gave them all a wide birth.
These same people paid little mind to the hunched figure dragging itself down the hallway. A simple, unassuming mass of hastily stitched cloth sheets hiding something under the heavy hood. The figure made its way down the cramped corridor with little regard for those who scampered and scurried off to one side or the other.
Along the way there were a few spots with more space than the rest. Places where the walls had been knocked out opening old barracks or long forgotten storage and construction stations open to create more open common areas. Things that passed for barter shops or just something that broke the claustrophobic monotony. Nothing too large, and by no means properly organized. The sickly color making the whole thing look like a craggy cavity in some giant rotting tooth.
Eventually the hallway broke into one of the biggest such areas. The small hovels cleared back at least twenty meters down the hallway on either side. Opened up to something that looked more akin to a dive pub save for the lack of doors. Old instillations for light construction equipment and long dead fabrication printers joined by ramshackle furniture and tattered banners crudely sewn from bloodied jumpsuits coated in cheap dyes.
Inside were a gaggle of about a dozen men and women. None of them looking older than twenty, though all agonizingly malnourished. They too were clad in the tattered and resewn remains of what were probably once dock worker uniforms. Each one complimented by the kind of makeshift jewelry and body modifications one might expect to see from a Vaga crew, save for the lack of Grav’ya. The blue and pink ornamentations and bandanas attached to various places on each one marked them rather clearly as some sort of gang.
A few of the gangers hung around a table near the center of the room, rolling dice and playing some kind of game with random bolts and other objects strewn about on top of the propped up viewport segment. One of them, a spindly, lean hyena boy, pulled himself up from the table with a grin. His eyes narrowing as he watched the figure approaching them. The other gang members all watched as he sauntered around the table, leaning lazily against the wall at what had once been a door frame into one of the blown-out rooms. A twisted jester grin springing to his lips almost instantly.
“Ey, hold it. Hold up there raggedy man.” A heavily scarred hyena pulled himself up from what had once been a tool storage cage in ages past. His body swaying slowly, lean muscles rolling and twisting under the tattered clothing and small bits and bobs which passed for trophies. “Just where do you think you’re going off to?”
There was no answer. The cloaked figure gesturing just enough for the hood to rustle. A slight twinge indicating for the ganger to move.
The young man stood semi-upright, though he hunched a bit in what one might presume to be an attempt at a predatory stance. His left hand gripping the cloth-wrapped hilt of a makeshift sword gently between his fingertips. The weapon held up from the ground as much from the chord at the bottom being tied to his wrist as it was any attempt to hold the weapon properly. As if on cue a pair of thugs armed with the scratch-built rifles put their arms at the ready. Both copying the leaders manic grin.
“Hey now, listen rags I don’t know if you’re crystal or not, but this here is five-bolt tribe territory now.”
“You tell ‘em, Skyver.” The source of the sudden, shrill cry hopped herself up and brandished a well-worn and almost unusable cartage revolver. The pink-haired Numbat perched on a table made of old rotation bearings like some skeletal goblin about to strike.
The encouragement seemed to embolden the yena boy even further. His knuckles quickly wrapping around the sword grip and squeezing bone white though his thin, shaggy fur. “Now I know the way Bear Breed did things was probably all nice and easy for you non-coms. But that ain’t how it is now. Past here you get into our tribe’s turf. And since you weren’t born Five-bolt that means you gotta pay your dues. One way or another.” The young man watched the still figure for a long moment. His sword slowly raising its way up the cloak, tracing the tip up until he hooked the top of the hood with it. His grin growing just a bit more seeing some actual color in the hair beneath it “Normally we’d want some supplies. You know. Fund the war effort. But since you’re dumb as Kenna. I figured maybe we can just take a minute and.”
“Don’t.” The cloaked figure snapped.
“What you say?” The yena stumbled back in shock. Many of the gathered gangers bristling and looking at each other in stunned shock.
“I’m getting past.” The figure muttered. The tone clearly feminine, yet low and flat. Only the smallest flecks of emotion coming though.
Loud thuds and plasticy creaks filled the small space as the nearest gangers leveled their cheap guns or drew their clunky weapons to the ready. A small gesture from the already stunned Skyver just barely keeping them from opening fire.
“The Fack did I just here, Tink?” Skyver snarled as he glanced back to the pink haired girl
“I donno.” The perched girl growled back. “I don’t speak with the dead. Slag’s not kosher.”
Skyver growled, only for his snarl to fade. Cotton candy blue strands of hair falling before his face as he pulled the sword back and smirked wide. “I guess we get our example then, huh boys and girls? Just a shame we couldn’t have more fun with her. Ah well.” The young man moved quickly. A bundle of skin, bone and taught wire muscles streaking the blade at the neck of the cloaked figure. His body lunged fully into the attack.
The attack never landed. The sword found empty air. The hand that gripped it suddenly pushed hard against the hyena’s chest so that the blade of the weapon rested firmly on his collarbone. The hood falling back part way to reveal a set of wild blue eyes and matted tangles of straw-blonde hair. The woman’s other hand gripped the dull spine of the weapon and twisted it around in one smooth motion. Pressing it up against her would be attackers neck. Holding him in place between herself and the other gang members with the mans own sword ready to bite his throat with the smallest amount of pressure.
“Wait, hold up!” Skyver gasped. His fist gripping the sword firmly, yet unable to get any leverage as his cloaked foe pushed the blade towards his neck. “The fack you think you’re doing, lady? You think you can kill me and just walk outta here? You kill me and you’ll be off to a recycler in a heartbeat.”
A small push against the spine of the blade was the woman’s only reply. Her left hand quickly gripping his sword arm and pushing it up, twisting the appendage to the point where his socket screamed. He bent back hard attempting to avoid the blade as it caressed his throat. The maneuver left a shot open for any of the nearby gang members. They raised the weapon, but didn’t fire. Each one eyeing up the figure carefully. Watching as she shifted her weight. Wary of what even the slightest twitch might do.
“You may as well just let me go.” The man ganger scoffed. His words cut short as he was slowly edged along the back wall of the little clearing, His body firmly between the cloaked figure and his crew.
“Yeah, the second you let him go we’re gonna come after you.” Tink chirped. “Do it now and maybe we’ll aim for the head. Make it quick-like. Maybe.” Her nearly emaciated form swaggering itself free of the perch and glancing up over the rim of her revolver Silvery striations and darkened veins bulged from the girls eyes, making the whites look sickly and bruised. She aimed the revolver up and tensed on the miniscule trigger. A telltale light glowing behind the chamber, warning of impending ignition.
The only response from the cloaked figure was a hard tug on the blade. One that caused the girl and indeed each gang member to loosen their aim and take a step back. Keeping their distance as their adversary slowly edged to one end of the hallway. One hand using the blade to control the captive gang leader while the other fell back as if reaching for a weapon.
“It’s ok guys. Just pause.” Skyver muttered. His neck craning as his captor pulled him back against the wall. “Look we’ll just let the bitch go, and then we figure shit out, ok? Nobody’s gotta get spliced here.“ A small twitch of the blade silenced him and drove the gang a few steps back. Some of them slamming into makeshift scrap furniture in their haste, a couple even hitting the back wall before finally stopping and fumbling with their weapons from the startling jolt.
None seeming to notice the shifting movement behind the cloak or hear the soft fumbling of a paw against the random shelves and racks of stocked junk weapons and stolen gear.
When she’d made it to the other side with her hostage, the figure tensed once more. Each gun quickly went back to target and those without a real ranged weapon pulled large scrap-made knives or snagged up large lengths of old rusted paste pipe twisted into wicked clubs.
Skyver let out a small whimper and tried to lean his neck away from the blade once more. Twisting his head uncomfortably far to the side until his scrawny neck looked as if it would snap. “Ok. That’s all done. You got past.” He muttered softly “Now just let me go and you can keep walkin’. Nobody’s gotta get spliced here today, eh?”
The cloaked figure still said nothing. She simply let a small growl loose from her throat before twisting the young man around again and kicking him back towards his compatriots. The crew gasping in shock. The girl with the revolver dashing down to his side while the other gangers raised their weapons once more. Small lights and crude arcs flaring, warning of the primitive guns priming. All fixated on the hooded head of the trespasser. Too fixated in fact to notice the small cylinder that dropped to the deck or the subsequent firm kick which sent it rolling into the middle of the room.
None of them heard the small clicking sound. Few of them the loud clatter at their feet a moment later. A loud bang and a bark of fire sprang out from the small power pack turned blasting charge. Not quite enough to burst though the walls with more than a few token bits of shrapnel. But more than enough to knock the gang members, the hyena, and the cloaked woman off of their feet and away from their weapons.
It was the hooded figure who rose first. Her arms trembling as they dug and gripped at the plating. Her hand gripping hard at the sword by its pathetic ground-in guard and dripping small volumes of blood from her gashed fingers. She looked at the gangers. Some clearly dead. Most of them at the very least wounded and incapacitated. She looked down at the ganger who had kept the sword strapped to his wrist. Gripping the weapon and yanking firmly while one unpainted plastic and metal foot pushed on his shoulder and the old shipping chord was yanked and tugged until finally slipping free of the wrist that bound it. Though not without a rather nasty semi degloving injury for the man who had carried it.
She gave herself a quick patdown to confirm any injuries. Then went to the two closest figures, the hyena and the numbat. She yanked a few cheap old cred tokens free from the pair and narrowed her eyes, pulling herself back up to standing and continuing down the hall with a heavy limp.
The crowd after that parted rather easily for her. People hurrying down the hallway or ducking into whatever nearby room they could get open. As she rounded the corner a short ways up her foot impacted into a limp figure. Two figures, actually. A trembling woman who may have been in her twenties, though from the looks of it could have been far older as well. A feline slumped against the wall with a small silver headband shoved around her temples. She lay with her eyes twitching and shaking. Some cable spooled out from the headband, into a small glowing disc loaded with a set of simple crystals, and wired to another silver band wrapped around a black furred hybrid girl curled up against the woman. Both of their bellies swollen and bodies trembling from the cold.
The woman leaned down an slipped one of the small chips into the mothers tattered shirt. Looking around a moment to ensure nobody was eyeing the helpless family before continuing on her path down towards one of the dock sections.
