Chapter 1
Lexi stumbled into the dark, damp alleyway; her hands quivered, and her legs trembled. She tried to wipe the despair off her face, only to realize she had spread the blood on her hands all over her face. Her eyes darted around in bewilderment, to the tall and terrible walls that were closing in on her, to the cold wet asphalt upon which she walked, and the viscera that soiled her jumpsuit. She heard the police sirens flying above her, the aerial vehicles heading to the dreadful tower she had just escaped. Her knees gave out as she shuffled to the nearest dumpster. Laid against it, she felt the rain dropping its cold stings, washing away the fresher blood on her. Her gaze looked up to the blinding bright tower, the skyscraper that led to the clouds and beyond. It had to be done, it had to. I am free.
The remaining cold water dripped down her long platinum blonde hair and her pale body. The shower chimed with an automated voice, “Water ration depleted. Would you like to add another minute?”. A holographic prompt appeared on the glass, but Lexi was not looking. Propped against the composite panel wall, her mind rewound the dream she had, just one more time.
When she was done, she got out of the bathroom a little shell-shocked. Her eyes flickered, and an interface display showed up in her field of vision. With simple mental commands, she scrolled through her recent messages and missed calls. Besides unread messages from a man named Asaradi, nothing seemed alarming to her.
She donned a black nanofiber bodysuit that fitted her body perfectly. The sheen of its material and the tightness of it put forth what she loved most about her body. She chased the attention and appreciation that it brought her. She loved the feeling of being desired by others. Her cropped leather jacket provided a counterbalance to her sex appeal, and gave her an air of rebellious authority. Finally, she strapped her pouch belt and gun harness, her repeater handgun hugging her thigh.
Before leaving her quarters, she gave one last look at her bed. Her unusual pink eyes would have loved to set their sights on a beautiful view this morning. Alas, she was disappointed to find the other side of her bed devoid of her beloved’s presence. But this was a small ship and she knew where she would find her.
The captain is on deck, she strutted her way to the bridge of her ship. The heavy blast doors that sealed the command center made way for the impending arrival of its master. She entered the wide room filled with buzzing consoles, noisy computers and flashing screens. Loose cables dangled from the ceiling and slithered across the floor, all of the cable management left a lot to be desired. She spotted her chief engineer at the helm of the ship. Well, her only engineer really. Erin was curled up on the seat, arms hugging her legs as she stared in the vast expanse of space. It’s blue and purple tinted backdrop casted a silhouette over Erin’s short dark hair. Lexi approached and saw repugnant puffs of smoke emanating from Erin’s seat. The smell was horrid and unbearable, not to mention the dangers of a live flame onboard a spaceship.
“Good morning, sunshine,” Erin said.
“You know, if you keep smoking like that you’ll clog the air filters,” Lexi said in between coughs.
“What about it,” she laughs, “I’m the one who has to clean them anyways.”
“Nevermind.”
Erin spun her chair around to face Lexi, with a smirk on her face she scanned Lexi up and down: “Do you need me to clean you again?”
Lexi retaliated with a smirk of her own, she leaned in close to her face no longer bothered by the putrid smoke. “Oh? I just showered, darling. Maybe I should clean you instead.” With a single finger, she pulled on Erin’s crop top, popping the few buttons that held it together.
Erin ran her hand up and across Lexi’s blonde hair, rubbing her scalp as she went. Her hazelnut eyes hungered with a certain craze, their lips a moment away from making contact.
Their breathing converged into one cloud of lust. Lexi straddled herself on her beloved’s laps. Her chest heaved and her heart pounded. She grazed her lover’s lips.
The bridge’s door hissed open, a tall muscular man entered the room. Lexi scrambled herself off the seat and stood up straight with her hands behind her back. Erin spun the chair around and pretended to look at the ship’s sensors. The man readjusted his heavy duty jacket, and let out a gruff cough making sure his presence was known.
“Good morning, Leon,” Lexi said.
“Morning, sleepy head,” his stern voice betraying a softness for his captain.
“Did something break?” Erin asked.
“No, nothing is broken. We’re approaching the gate to Demeter and we need to be ready that’s all.”
Leon stepped down and brought up a datapad. He double-checked the cargo and crew manifest before handing it to Erin.
“Does this look good to you?”
“Yeah,” — she gave it a quick glance — “yeah looks good.”
“You sure?” he asked back with an inquisitive look.
“I can shove it up your ass if it makes it look good to you,” she said, shoving the datapad back to him.
“Ha! Good luck.”
“Guys, can we please not fight?”
“You can tell your sleazeball engineer here to read better. If she had, she would’ve seen the obvious contraband on it.”
“You’re the stupid one for putting it on in the first place,” Erin screamed.
“Relax sleazeball, I already submitted the real manifest,” he chuckled to himself.
Erin scoffed at him and spun her chair back towards the helm.
“Besides, you’re sitting in my chair.”
His comment was met with a generous finger.
“No, seriously, get out. You should be in the engine room to prep us for a jump,” he spun her chair back to face him, only to be met with a cloud of smoke in the face.
As Leon choked, Erin stomped her way out in dramatic fashion. Lexi sat down in the captain’s chair beside Leon. He inputed instructions into the navigational computer. Ahead of the ship, several spatial miles away, stood an enormous ring, a Gate. It was currently receiving traffic from the Demeter system, dozens upon dozens of ships crossed through safely, avoiding the dangers of warp jumps. Leon checked the schedule, there was about 20 minutes left before the inversion.
“Why are you so hard on her?” Lexi asked.
“I’m just making sure everyone does their job.”
“And I’m gonna start to think our high turnover is because of you.”
He did not reply, he simply turned his head towards her.
“You’ve been here the longest — why are you staying?”
She tilted her head in an attempt to pierce his cold blue eyes.
“It pays well—”
“Don’t give me that. Lenny left when he repaid all his debt and had extra for his family. You should be ultra rich by now.”
“Does it matter?”
“Matter what?”
“Why I stay.”
“Yes. Yes it does, I run the ship and I want to know.”
Leon stopped looking at her and instead focused on the ships coming out of the blue vortex. He laid in his chair and sighed.
“You remind me of someone, that’s all.”
“Who?”
“Someone I couldn’t protect,” — his eyes turned back to her — “I don’t want to make that mistake again.”
“I don’t need your protection,” she proclaimed fiercely.
Leon laughed with one his rare smiles. As he winded down, he looked at the fierce Lexi.
“That’s exactly what she said too…”
“Where is she now?”
His smile faded.
“I- I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re fine. L-let’s just do our jobs, ok?”
The silence regained its reign. Lexi opened up her messages on her optics and catches up on all her unread messages, whilst Leon monitored the controls and awaited Erin’s signal for jump-ready conditions. He glanced at her and saw her completely absorbed into the tiny flashing lights in front of her cornea. Erin chimed into his ear piece.
“We’re set. Is cargo strapped and secured?”
“Strapped and secured.”
“Ok. Turning off gravitators in 3… 2… 1…”
“Approaching gate.”
The ship urged forward, its twin engines roaring before coming to a stop. All of its power rerouted to the warpdrive. Four tubes of dark fluid slowly inserted into the spherical vacuum chamber. Its lights spun faster as negative energy was produced and destabilizing gravity itself. The infernal engine whirred to life.
“Stormbird, this is Gate Control, you are clear for jump. Maintain current drift please.”
Leon’s radar beeped, showing a fast approaching ship on the same vector as theirs.
“Stormbird, this is Gate Control, you are too fast, I repeat too fast. Decelerate immediately!”
“That’s not us!—” Leon screamed back to Control.
“Gate Control to CDF patrol, we have a gaterunner on vector lane 36-2.”
Leon grumbled, as he was sure Control did not hear him. The ship on radar zoomed past their ship. Out the bridge’s window, a smaller vessel flipped over and blasted its engine to decelerate their fast approach to the gate, as it was about to hit the surface of the vortex warp it cut its engine and zipped into nothingness. Soon after, Lexi’s ship drifted into the vortex and the bow of the ship stretched forward like dough then the rest of the ship quickly followed, sending all of into the places between worlds.
“What now?” Lexi asked.
“That ship is dead, it went in too fast.”
“Do they think it was us gaterunning?”
“I hope not. We won’t know ’til we cross to the other side.”
Erin sat down at the round table at the center of the mess hall joining her two travel companions at the table. Besides the humming of air ducts and the occasional sound of the hull warping, the silence was king.
It’s reign was interrupted when a clunky rust bucket clanked its way to the table. A monitor at the upper part of its imposing chassis displayed a static image of a fine gentleman with a twirly mustache. The robot gently placed down a large tray with a jar of chocolate chip cookies and a steaming tea kettle. It’s image changed from a neutral face to a laughing one.
“Attention my dear crew, for I have prepared the most sccccccrumptious batch of cookies!” he said with a sound cue of applauds and confetti coming out of its speakers.
“About time,” Leon said as he grabbed one of the cookies.
“I must inform you, Mister Elric. The chocolate is synthetic.”
“And?”
“The recipe derives from roach bars.”
His face sunks for a moment, with half the cookie already inside his mouth. He shoved the rest into his mouth before mumbling under his breath.
“It’s just chocolate… it’s just chocolate.”
“Well if there is one thing that traumatizes Leon. It’s roach chips cookies.” Lexi and Erin laughed.
The robot poured the tea into sealed cups before putting the kettle back on the tray where it magnetically snapped to it. Lexi sipped her tea whilst looking at a datapad floating in front of her.
“Alnor, what’s our status on our food?” Lexi asked.
“Well Madam, for three human adults there is enough food for the next 160 hours if current ration parameters are maintained.”
“That’s like what — about seven days?” Erin said.
“Wow! You know how to count days.”
“Fuck you, Leon.”
Alnor extended a tube out of him as he vacuums the cookie crumbs floating around in the air. Whilst the crew enjoyed a moment of respite, a loud and muffled boom reverberated across the ship, indicative of a completed jump. Several of the floating crumbs fell down as the ship’s artificial gravity reactivated.
“Ah! Goodness gracious, it’s everywhere now,” Alnor complained.
“Alright. We should be approaching Demeter now. Lexi and I will take a shuttle down to deliver the goods, and you stay on the ship with Alnor, is that good with everyone?”
“Yep,” Erin nods.
“Did we confirm with the buyers? Make sure they didn’t chickened out?” Lexi asked Leon.
“Trust me. They’ll be there.”
“Pardon me, but the ship is receiving a signal, it would appear that we are being hailed.”
“On screen,” Lexi ordered.
The television bolted to the wall behind them opened up a communication channel. A bearded man in a decorated military uniform appeared on the screen, his eyes inquisitive and menacing.
“Stormbird, this is the CDF patrol ship Ackamar. You are in violation of the Coalition’s Gate Crossing Act, article 2, illegal gate crossing. You will be subject to an inspection. Do not alter your course and prepare to be boarded.”
“That was not us,” Leon said.
“You will be subject to a thorough inspection. Do not alter your course. Prepare to be boarded. Ackamar out,” the man replied quite displeased. The screen reverted to its initial state, shining a dim blue.
“We need to go hide the cargo now,” Lexi said standing up.
“No, we can’t” — he grabbed her arm — “We’ll be missing two crates from our manifest.”
“Oh, so you are stupid enough to put the fucking contraband on the manifest,” Erin mocked.
“Yes, but I lied about its content. If we get inspected, as long as the amount of cargo we declared is the same as we carry, they don’t really look inside.”
“Well I sure hope they don’t look inside, or we’re all getting arrested,” Lexi mentioned.
The Ackamar and Stormbird ran parallel to each other, matching their velocity and vector. Both ships were relatively the same size, but the patrol craft was severely more armed than the Stormbird. A tunnel extended out of the patrol craft and clamped itself to the airlock of the cargo hold. A pack of soldiers wearing military-grade lifesuits crossed the gap, their march rhythmic and steady. The airlock doors hissed open, the crew of the Stormbird stood at the ready. Like clockwork, the soldiers in blues spread out into the cargo hold and began their search. The leading soldier walked towards the group, the dark glass of his helmet obscuring his face.
“Cargo and crew manifest?” he asked.
Leon handed him the datapad with the manifest on it.
“Seventeen crates. Two female humans, one male human — and one clanker,” he said looking at Alnor.
“Oh I clank quite well, thank you very much sir!”
“Didn’t know your rust bucket came with humor. Where did you get it?”
“Found him in junkyard, he’s a — unique,” Lexi replied nervously.
“I can tell.”
“Sir, handsome sir. We are in a rush,” Lexi approached him slowly. “Would it be possible to be lenient with us and just, let us go?”
She coiled her body in a tempting way like the little devil she is. The soldier coughed in his helmet mustering all his will to remain professional. If she could convince the leader to leave, then the pack will follow.
“Sergeant, over here!” one of the soldiers shouted.
Lexi’s composure crumbled. It was too late, they had found the guns.
“Sergeant, just a moment please,” Leon jumped in.
“What is it?” he replied annoyed.
“I was just wondering if we could trade some food before you leave. Some chow you know?”
“What?” the sergeant said, his confusion transcending his helmet.
“I am craving a special kind that I heard only the Defense Force has on their ships. It’s one of those spicy chow packets with a black horse logo on it.”
“What the hell are you on about, dude?” Erin whispered to his ear.
The sergeant was dead in his tracks, he no longer seemed interested by what his men were getting his attention for. He just stared at Leon, dumbfounded.
“There are no such things unfortunately. We eat the same store-bought chow as every spacer out there,” the sergeant finally replied.
The sergeant signaled his men to group up, and like bowling pins they stacked up inside the airlock. He gave one final look at Leon before leaving.
“We apologize for the inconvenience. Everything is in order.”
The airlock closed and the soldiers left. Lexi sighed in relief.
“Yo, what did you do, dude?” Erin exclaimed.
“Nothing. Everything is in order he said.”
Erin just stared at him in disbelief, a seed of doubt crawling in the back of her mind. Lexi went over to them, relieved and more relaxed, the hard part being over.
“Okay, let’s just… You know? Fly over and deliver what we’re supposed to deliver.”
Erin just rolled her eyes and walked away to the bridge.
“Tea and biscuits anyone?” Alnor asked the remaining two.
As the ship approached the orbit of Demeter, Erin sneaked into the cargo hold. She hugged the wall underneath the catwalk to avoid the camera. Slowly but surely, she made her way towards the two crates that contained the illegal weapons. The one on top was not closed properly. She pulled up the lid and discovered the numerous rifles hidden underneath a plaque of tools. The soldiers had found the guns. They had no reason to leave them alone, yet they did. Erin quickly put everything back into place, closed the lid and locked the crate properly. She sneaked out of there just about the time that Leon and Lexi entered the cargo hold.
Leon effortlessly picked up both gun crates, despite Lexi’s attempts to help him. She just followed him asking him if he was sure he did not need any help. Erin was hidden in the shadows of the hold, her doubts now sprouting. She was going to confront Leon in front of Lexi, but it would have to wait until they come back. He was not only an asshole to her, but now he was too suspicious to be trusted.
Leon loaded the crates inside the Pelican, the ship’s surface-to-orbit shuttle. He climbed into the tiny cockpit where Lexi was seated in the co-pilot seat, strapped up and legs crossed. He squeezed himself into the pilot seat and put on the safety belts. The cockpit sealed and pressurized. The ramp at the back lifted up and closed. The bay doors beneath the shuttle opened up as a mechanical arm lowered the Pelican down into space before releasing it like a dove out of a magic hat. The jet engines on both wings of the Pelican propelled it down towards the brownish industrial planet known as Demeter.
The shuttle scorched as it begins re-entry. After the heat fanned away, the shuttle dove into a cloud of noxious fumes, before finally breaching into near surface airspace. Leon landed the Pelican in an open container yard. Their destination ahead of them, an abandoned factory.
