Chapter 01: Holding Out
Angelica hated the shuttle pod. She hated it more than was perhaps
reasonable, but to her there was a very good reason to loath the tiny,
cramped and - worst of all - ugly little thing. Being in it meant she
wasn't in her own ship and that was a Very Bad Thing.
The Crimson Scorn was her pride and joy, a small Delta model war
cruiser she had spent four years customising and outfitting into the
best outlaw ship in the galaxy, or at least that was her opinion of it!
Yes, she was an outlaw. She didn't care. She was her own boss, she
had her own ship, and she had fun! At least she had fun most of the
time. Right now she was stuck in the shuttle pod she'd had to take to
sort out a little misunderstanding with the local police about what was
a suitable level of reward for her latest little capture. After all, he
wasn't going to need that money, and she could always find a use for
it! Unfortunately he'd had a rather sturdy ship himself and had decided
that he'd rather ram his way out than get caught smuggling some less
than legal merchandise. The law was after all very strictly controlled.
It needed to be to govern interplanetary distances, especially since
most people lived off-world nowadays.
She crossed her arms moodily in the shuttle's one and only chair in
its one and only room, the cockpit, and continued waiting for her
beloved Crimson Scorn to appear. It had needed some rather major
repairs after its run-in with the freight carrier and she had grudging
left it in the capable hands of her technician Laura so the repairs
could start while she was away. Unfortunately, three days of travel and
heated negotiation later she was here but her ship was not.
"When they get back they are in so much trouble!" It didn't help
that they'd never used the shuttle before so they'd never had the
chance to find out that the heating system was faulty, the toilet flush
was stuck, the supplies cabinet didn't have any supplies, the seats
were hard and the entire interior was a highly depressing shade of
avocado, so she was sitting there sweating like a pig and feeling very
pissed off. She unbuckled her cape and tossed it behind the seat. Of
the rest of her flashily elaborate ivory coloured outfit, only the
jacket and tight trousers still covered her modesty besides her
underwear - the shoulder guards, bracers, shin guards and boots sitting
with the red-lined cape on the floor behind her. Even her pale tunic
had been discarded. Her outfit was designed for style, ease of movement
and a moderate level of protection since her chosen profession could
get rather dangerous. It wasn't designed for adverse temperature
conditions.
She sat there gazing out into space. Most of the time she was too
busy chasing money or whatever had most recently taken her fancy to
just sit and stare. Contemplative moods made her antsy. She wanted to
be out doing... well, something other than staring out into space. She
had to admit though it was a fairly nice bit of space to be staring at.
The asteroid field out to the port side was lit up by the gas cloud
behind it, giving it a supernatural green-blue glow.
She unbuttoned a bit more of the jacket and brushed her golden
blonde hair back from her face, feeling very glad she had decided to
cut it. Anything longer than her current shoulder length would have
been unbearable right now.
From behind her came a pitiful meowl and she looked back to see her
black cat Tangalo looking very bedraggled. Evidently he didn't like the
heat either.
She smiled. "Hey Tangalo, get over here, come on."
At the sound of her voice he perked up and leaped into her lap,
leaning into her hand as she petted him. Tangalo was definitely a
'people cat' and would take as much attention as he could get.
Then, out ahead of her, she saw a small flash light up the
blackness for an instant. She had seen enough explosions in her five
years as an outlaw to know that was exactly what it was. She was also
pretty sure of exactly what, or more specifically who, it was. She
swore violently and reached for the pod controls, sending Tangalo
leaping out of her lap. "Damn it Jhonas, if you've made another raid on
some passing idiot without my permission I am going to KILL YOU!"
Tangalo retreated to the back of the pod and curled up. Even he
knew the one very vital rule. Never make Lady Angelica angry. Ever.
***
On the other side of the blast a small, well armed recreational
ship also saw the explosion. The Maria's Summer wasn't an expensive
ship, it wasn't particularly roomy considering you could live your
entire life in it, and it was perhaps one of the most difficult ships
to fly ever created. Its saving grace was that it had all the things a
ship needs to work well and they worked very well indeed. One such
thing was the navigational scanner, which was currently making one hell
of a noise because the owner and pilot wasn't at the controls.
This in itself wasn't anything particularly unusual. Travel between
outposts could easily take more than a week and it took even the most
modern commercial cruisers a year or more to traverse from planetary
system to planetary system. Include that the practice of actually
piloting any vehicle capable of space flight was notoriously difficult
and that meant that the inclusion of at least an auto-pilot was a real
necessity. However, this was the noise that let the pilot know he or
she was needed back at the controls because something had just come up
that could potentially cause problems. That something was the
explosion.
Crow October sighed, put down his book, and headed for the cockpit.
He was a fairly tall and gangly young man who had more than once been
mistaken for a non-human. This didn't mean he was ugly by any means, in
fact he had a sort of effeminate beauty to his features, but he was
almost painfully thin which made his arms seem longer than they really
were and the hair around his face fell to his chin framing him and
making him look almost classically Elfin. The contrast of black hair,
the rest of which was cut short, and orange eyes only made his very
pale skin seem more surreal.
He sat down and cut the incessant bleeping of the navigation
warning, letting his gentle piano music fill the ship once again.
"Okay, what's up?" He brought up the event screen and scanned the
list for whatever had caused the alert.
<An attack? Probably raiders or pirates.> He thought for a minute
before taking manual control and altering course slightly to head for
the remains of whatever it had been. He also armed the ship's guns. It
paid for a bounty hunter to be cautious, and he was no exception, but
he wasn't going to leave anyone over there to their fate. And perhaps
he could make a bit of extra money.
***
"This is the Maria's Summer calling disabled vessel registered
Deacon-09572#5. Moonlight, are you okay over there? ... Moonlight,
please reply, do you need any help?"
The radio just responded with static. Crow left the radio channel
open and slowly manoeuvred his ship alongside the Moonlight to start
coupling preparations. Whoever it was was in very bad shape judging
from the amount of damage they had taken. At least one of the external
engines had been totally obliterated and she was leaking air and some
sort of fluid from the topside. It was a total write off.
The ship that had exploded was a lost cause. At least he knew it
had been quick because there was nothing left of it except shrapnel.
Whatever had destroyed it must have been devastating. Judging by the
state of the Moonlight though he didn't feel sorry for them. There was
no way in hell that the unarmed cargo ship could have initiated the
attack.
As soon as the coupling gantry was in place he quickly got into one
of the pressurised emergency suits and headed for the airlock. There
was no way of knowing if they had depressurised completely over there
or whether what he had seen from the outside was contained. He could
only hope there were no survivors from the other destroyed ship still
onboard because there was no way he would be able to hold a gun while
in the suit.
The inside wasn't in much better condition than the hull. The
hallway was pockmarked with bullet holes and it looked like the doors
had either been forced open or blown in. He checked the readout panel
of the pressure suit then removed the helmet and unfastened himself
when it read there was indeed air there.
He left the suit at the airlock door and headed further inside,
very glad he wasn't restricted to the canned air that came with it.
Even a quick glance around could tell him the entire ship had been
ransacked. Almost anything that wasn't stuck down had been taken and
one of the cargo bays at the back was empty. The other was locked tight
and the warning light above the door was flashing, letting him know
that that was the room that had been blasted out.
He didn't hold out any hope of finding anyone now. Despite the
damage done he hadn't seen anyone, or any bodies, so it was likely they
had been taken with the cargo and been killed along with the pirates.
Then he entered the cockpit, and had to force himself not to gag.
The wall and mesh floor were splattered with blood that dripped slowly
down onto the wiring below, giving off the foul stench of burning meat
and plastic as the thick red fluid seeped into the circuitry. The pilot
sat slumped in her chair, her pale green clothes coloured reddish black
as the blood flowed slowly from the hole in her stomach. Crow had never
seen an abattoir, but he guessed this couldn't be far from it. "Oh
God."
He rushed over to the prone woman and pressed his fingers to her
throat checking for a pulse. Amazingly, weak and irregular as it was,
he found one. Without another thought he hefted her onto his back and
out to the gantry. There was no way he could do anything here.
He lay her down at the airlock and caught his breath, wishing his
anaemia didn't make him feel so weak. Even carrying her this short
distance was enough to start tiring him out. He was relieved to find
that the cupboard outside the airlock still had a few extra suits
inside and he hurriedly bundled the woman's unconscious form inside one
of them. It would be quicker than pressurising the coupling gantry.
As soon as he was back on his ship he lay her out in the bathtub
and wrapped a towel around her middle, tying it tight in a futile
attempt to stop the bleeding. He wasn't a medic though.
<She's going to need help fast,> he thought. <Where's the nearest
base?>
He dashed into the cockpit, brought up his maps and began scanning
them for their location. He had just found it when the radio came to
life again. "Hey you, what the hell's goin' on here? If you're lootin'
this thing I'll ram you all the way to hell!"
Crow looked up in surprise. There was a shuttle pod in the window.
<What were the chances of someone else being here? And in one of
those?> Then it struck him. She might be from the other ship. He swung
the forward gatling cannon around to target her.
"This is the Maria's Summer to unidentified shuttle. I'm just here
to help out. Where did you come from?"
Angelica *humph*ed into her radio. "This is my rendezvous with my
ship. I saw the blast and thought one of my crew went A.W.O.L. again.
Who are you?"
"I was just headed for the Tinzari station, but I've got someone
dying here. She needs help fast. Do you have any medical expertise or
anything?"
"No, but there's an outpost a couple of hours away that could help
you out. Say, you haven't seen any other ships around here have you?"
Crow could barely believe her lack of concern. "What? No, just the
pirates that got themselves blown up. Look, this is serious, which
way's the outpost?"
"Alright already, head for point 09-12-errr...87. And if you see
the Crimson Scorn tell them I want them back here now!"
Crow paused as the coupling gantry was retracted. Crimson Scorn? He
took control of the rest of the ships guns and swung them around.
"Don't move or I shoot you down. You're coming with me." He was glad
this was just over the radio. He could never have made threats in
person and be taken seriously.
"Huh?!? What the hell's this? Are you crazy?"
"I'm making an arrest under article seven of the Bounty Hunter's
Charter for the attack on an unarmed vessel and attempted murder."
"WHAT?"
Crow frowned into the radio. "The Crimson Scorn made the attack on
this ship. I found a registration chip on my scan of the debris."
Angelica's heart practically stopped. "D-Debris? My Ship! THAT SON
OF A BITCH BLEW UP MY SHIP!"
Crow double checked that his ships' weapons were armed and started
the engines. "Don't try anything stupid. Your ship attacked her and
there's a good chance she might not live through this. You'll stay
along my port side and come with me. If your crew did go A.W.O.L. you
don't have anything to worry about, but that's up to the authorities to
decide."
Angelica growled into the radio, her hands twitching for her sword.
"Damn right I'm comin'! And she'd better survive because *I'M* goin' to
kill her!"
Crow gave the pod a wary look as he moved off. He didn't think
she'd really heard a word he said.
***
Angelica stared angrily at her hands as she sat in the hospital.
Jhonas would have been in very serious trouble right now if he wasn't
already dead. She'd never lost a crewmember before, let alone her
entire crew AND her ship. Somehow it didn't really seem real since she
couldn't see their bodies. They'd been vaporised along with the ship.
Her ship.
That was at least something she could focus her anger on. That
woman was the reason her beautiful ship was gone, and she was going to
make sure she paid through the nose for it. It was about now Laura
would have reminded her that it wasn't really that woman's fault, and
they couldn't blame her for it, but Laura wasn't there any more.
Angelica sighed. Laura hadn't deserved to die. She'd been as innocent
as they come.
All the depression was getting to her so she decided to take a
walk. She hated thinking like this. She headed through the pristine
white and sky blue halls to the cafe, her 'protection' coming right
along with her. She was still a suspect so she had to have an escort
wherever she went, at least until they could get the reply back from
Tinzari to verify she had indeed been away on business when the attack
took place. She had decided early on that she didn't like the cop. He
looked at her like a bug he'd rather be squashing so she gave the same
look right back. She was the Lady Angelica and she was not going to be
intimidated by a policeman.
She bought herself some coffee and headed back out to her seat in
the hall. Sitting in some crowded cafe wasn't her style. "Hey, are you
comin' or what?" she asked the guard bluntly. He just gave her 'the
look' and followed behind her swishing cape as she marched off.
Angelica sat down and took a sip of her coffee. <Well, that was a
pathetic excuse for a walk,> she thought to herself. It hadn't made her
feel much better either.
"Hey, you're off the hook."
She turned to see the owner of the voice. He was pretty tall and
devastatingly pale, wearing a white open shirt and black slacks which
were held up by a gold buckled belt. His large cuffed sleeves were
rolled up passed his elbows and both his forearms and his torso were
bandaged up although she didn't think he seemed to be in any pain. He
couldn't have been any older than her, probably nineteen or so.
"Jeez, what happened to you?"
Crow frowned. He'd already had that from two of the doctors and was
getting very fed up with it. "If you've got a problem with this stuff,"
he held up his forearms, "get over it. They got word from the Tinzari
chief of police, so you're free to go as long as you don't plan on
doing anything to the woman we brought in."
For Crow's part he thought she was dressing like a warrior noble or
something with her elaborate red and ivory outfit, like a poor (or was
that rich?) girl playing dress up. Apparently she was 20 (he'd read her
police bio on the way up) but she looked like a teen. If anything she
was cute and petite in pretty much every department, although her
clothes were obviously designed to subtly make the most of what assets
she had.
Angelica *humph*ed and got up. "So you're the guy with the
patchwork ship huh? I thought you'd be older."
"And I thought you'd feel more responsible for your crew." Crow
couldn't help feeling that he was towering over her. She couldn't have
been more than four inches shorter than him but somehow she just seemed
small. Maybe it was all that clothing. "They really screwed up there."
"One guy - it was just one asshole who did this." She frowned at
him. "I only hired him 'cos he was good with a gun. She didn't have to
kill all of them. I hope she's bein' brought up on charges for this."
Crow frowned right back. "She has a permit for transporting
hazardous material. As far as the law is concerned your crew got
themselves killed."
"Bullshit!" She threw a punch at a passing service mechanoid but
only succeeded in bruising her knuckles. "Whatever. Maybe Jhonas was
dumb enough to 'jack somethin' freaky. I wouldn't've put it past him.
Anyway, she owes me a new ship. Where is she? And where's my sword?"
Crow could tell she was going to be stubborn about this. "Outpost
security has the weapon, and I'm going to see her now. She just got out
of surgery."
Angelica nodded. "Right, let's go then."
As they walked Crow had to wonder how much longer he would be
playing message boy to the understaffed station police. He had his own
things to do. "Just don't try anything."
"Yeah yeah, whatever. I saw what she did to my ship."
"You saw what they did to hers too." Crow was a little confused
about her attitude. She had after all been the one to warn him about
his morals if he had been a looter.
"Like I said, Jhonas was always an idiot. He was just useful, and
Laura said I should give him a chance." Somehow she had always ended up
listening to Laura.
"Laura?"
Angelica shook her head. "Doesn't matter, she's dead."
The pair walked in very awkward silence until they came to the
room.
"This her?" Angelica looked through the window into the recovery
room. She looked a mess in her opinion. She was probably a little
taller and older than Angelica herself and was pretty generously
endowed, which only served to make Angelica more annoyed. Her messy
hair looked like it had been cut short once and let grow again for a
bit, hanging over her eyes, ears and neck. It also looked like it had
never been brushed, sticking out at odd angles as she lay there.
And inside the room Jei Tazenten stirred in her sleep.
***
Sylvie Ferr knew it was coming soon enough. She'd known it would
for four years, yet each time she was spared the pain.
"Banpail Outpost this is the Gal's Army. We've got your new mining
equipment. Are we okay to dock?"
"Nice to see you Gal's Army, you've just saved out bacon. You
picked a hell of a time to drop in. Gate five's free though."
"Thank you Banpail. Bye bye."
Sylvie looked over from the radio to her business partner and best
friend at the ship's controls. It was a good thing one of them had
passed the pilot's training at the academy, and she really did look the
part. Yae was a poster child for the militia, at least from the
outside. Not too tall, well muscled and with short hair dyed jet black,
a single long strand falling down her face. Sylvie never could
understand why Yae was mistaken for a boy. True, she was fairly flat
chested and her baggy clothes didn't do anything but make her shoulders
look broader, but her tomboyish attitude didn't make her any less
female.
Yae grinned as she got the ship into the docking gate and gave her
a thumbs up. Sylvie smiled back, but underneath it she felt hollow
inside. She got up and headed over to one of the other consoles and
began to update their logs. That was their docking procedure; she would
finish dealing with the ship while Yae found them quarters for the
night. Now that she came to think of it they had a little procedure
like that for everything. She'd never noticed before. Then again she
supposed it was common sense. Two people running an eight man ship was
quite a job after all.
Just like clockwork Yae gave a mighty stretch and jumped out of her
seat, heading for the door. She gave Sylvie the sloppy salute she
always did as she left. "See you later Syl."
Sylvie nodded and gave another smile. She raised her little panda
teddy bear in one hand and waggled its arms with her fingers. "Bye bye
Yae."
Yae chuckled at her childish habit and gave the panda a little wave
before she stepped out of the door.
Sylvie couldn't help but feel relieved as she watched her go. She
needed a few hour alone to think. She stared down at the stuffed toy
panda in her arms. "What am I going to do Andy?"
***
Two hours later Yae Kann sat in the room she had rented for them, a
resolute expression on her face. Today was the day she finally told
Sylvie how she felt. It had been long enough in coming after all!
They'd known each other since they were 10 years old!
She got up and began to walk purposefully down to the docking
station. Sylvie would be overseeing the unloading. That was what she
did. Yae could never sit still long enough to do things like that.
It had taken her years to realise what she felt for Sylvie. It was
more than just the fact that, at the academy, it had been popular girl
Sylvie - of all people - who had been her best friend and roommate. The
only real friend she had had there.
She was wrenched from her thoughts when she collided with one of
the miners, knocking them both off balance.
"Hey, watch where you're going, huh?"
Yae smiled apologetically and tried to keep going. "Heh heh, sorry
sorry, my fault!"
<Okay,> she thought as she picked up her stride again <nice going
there. Take two.>
Thankfully she managed to get to the dock without any more
collisions, and she took a deep breath before heading up into their
ship.
She had to fight a lump in her throat as she reached the cockpit.
Sylvie still looked stunning, just like she always did. A somewhat shy
and sometimes childish young woman, and somehow she managed to make
more friends and turn more heads than anyone else Yae had ever known.
Her casually messy dark blonde hair cascaded down her back and her
bangs hung all around her cute thin face. Her frameless glasses made
her eyes seem a little bigger, making her look younger than her 22
years of age, and she was only just over five foot, despite having a
stunning thin figure which wasn't hidden by her jeans and light red
tank top. And on her lap was her panda Andy. She'd never been more than
twelve feet from it since the moment it had arrived.
It would have been hard to find two people with such different
personalities, and yet have so much in common. Their love of antique
guns for one. To Yae there was no-one else she could ever wish to have
with her on that ship.
And as usual the doubt began to creep into her mind. Was she doing
the right thing? What would happen if Sylvie didn't feel the same way?
Finally she stomped the question down. She would never know if she
never asked.
"Sylvie, have you got a moment?" she asked a little hesitantly.
Sylvie seemed to stiffen slightly, but Yae knew that she did.
"Yes. What, ummm... what is it?"
Yae plucked up her courage and sat down next to her. "Well, we've
been friends nearly forever. You helped me when I didn't have anyone
else and we've been through a lot together. I can't even remember a
time when it wasn't me and you and... I love you Syl, and I kind of
have for a long time."
Sylvie felt Yae's hope overwhelm her. So many times she had wished
her 'talent' would be easier to use. The almost telepathic connection
to those closest to her. She could never use as well as she wanted to
because the experiments that gave it to her had never been fully
finished. Now she just wished she could turn it off.
"Yae, I know, and you're the best friend in the world..." And then
she felt Yae's hope shatter. A beautiful stained glass window that her
own hand had just destroyed.
Yae looked at her, her smile fading into the most gentle yet most
acute sadness she had ever known. "But here's a 'but', isn't there?"
It was a question, but she already knew the answer, and Sylvie
couldn't meet her eyes. "I... I can't love you like that. It's just, I
don't think I could love any woman like that. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
The mere idea of loving another woman in such a way felt so foreign to
her, and yet here she was, feeling her best friend's heart break right
in front of her.
Sylvie placed her head in her hands and wept, but she looked up
when she felt Yae place a hand on her shoulder. Yae was smiling, even
as the tears formed in her eyes. "It's okay Syl." She gave a sniff.
"I'm a big girl now, I can handle it." Slowly she rose to her feet
again.
Sylvie looked after her, wishing there was something else she could
say. "Yaedite..."
Yae stopped and turned back, still smiling as a tear rolled down
her cheek. "Sylvie, you know I hate it when you call me that. It's just
Yae."
Sylvie nodded. "You're still my best friend Yae."
Yae nodded. "Of course. I just need to go and sort myself out for a
bit. See ya'."
When she was gone Sylvie grabbed Andy Panda and hugged him trying
to force Yae's emotion out of her head as her best friend's grief
flowed over her. Several minutes later she returned to her work before
heading to their room, overcome with grief and guilt.
Somehow, she promised herself, she would find a way to help her.
***
Yae sat in the cafe even though the kitchen had long since closed,
her hands wrapped around a cup of slowly cooling coffee. She didn't
know what to do now. She had never really thought about what would
happen if Sylvie didn't feel the same way. She would handle it and get
on with her life. She would force herself to for Sylvie's sake. They
would get another job here and she could get back to work, not sit and
wish things had been different. Perhaps it had been better not knowing.
She felt a fresh bout of sobs start up and she lay her head in her
arms on the table, the rest of the world long forgotten as she cried
herself to sleep.
***
To Be Continued...
***
Author's Notes: Thanks to RealFolkBlues for Lady Angelica,
KanemakiMiyuri for Crow October and Lan-chan for Sylvie Ferr and
Yaedite Kann.
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