Undertow

Undertow
By Nalani
“” “” “” “”
With her feet lazily sitting on top of her guidance screen, Kate eats a protein bar bit by bit, savoring its cardboard like flavor. Her boots are still dirty from the planet she had just been on, scavenging for anything, something. But like the last five, nothing turned up. No food, nothing to sell, no scraps. Nothing to keep her mind even remotely occupied. But when a small amount of black sludge falls off her heel, plopping rather garishly to the floor of her ship, Kate decides to get changed. First, however, she needs to decide where to go next.

Life has been hard to say the least, with no planet to call home, no one to call out to for that matter, Kate never stayed in one place for long. But all her leads have come up dry, and now with no information of old, dead settlements or anything of that sort, she looks over her list of planets she has been to and ones she hasn’t. None look appealing. She needed to go somewhere to get supplies, she was running out of everything fast but even finding a drifter colony that has what she needs, shot in the fucking dark. Closing her eyes, she pushes one of the options on the touch screen then quickly turns away, wanting it to be a surprise when she gets there. Before jumping off her seat, Kate takes off her shoes, unlatching the thick metal bands from the knee-cap to the ankle. Once out, she grabs them so they don’t dirty her under-suit and makes her way to her room, tossing them with all her other dirty piece of shit parts she puts together to call ‘armor’. Not so much armor for battle but for survival. Most if not all the planets Kate gets to can’t host human life. So one must protect oneself.

Walking in a skin tight blank spandex under-suit, Kate bangs her feet on the metal grate that was a sad excuse for a floor all the way to her room, she needed to shower badly. Her room, the only word she could think to call this box, was modest to say the least. A small bed that would lift to hide into the wall was out and of course, not made. Wasn’t like she was entertaining guests now was she? Reaching to the zipper behind her neck, Kate undoes her suit from top to bottom, ripping it off her arms and legs. As much body heat as her under-suit maintains and as amazing it is to have on, it was itchy. She walks into her bathroom, tossing it into a bin to be washed later. She makes her way into the shower and using as little water as possible, seeing as how she barely has any to drink, she washes from head to toe. Her mirror was barely fogged from the hot water once she was done, allowing Kate to see her face for the first time in days. Her skin was paler than she remembers, her cheeks sunken in and her freckles seem even lighter than normal. But it had to be in her mind, she just needs food. However, drying her short light blonde hair, strands of it fall out. Perhaps from breaking or maybe, just maybe, her ship is leaking again and is making her sick. But fuck, who cares at this point. Fully drying off, Kate slips naked into bed, not wanting to look at herself anymore. She was a shadow of what she used to be. A skeleton. Things will get better when she finds supplies. They have to.

“” “” “” “”

It took little more than a week for Kate and her husk of a ship to get her to the ‘surprise’ destination. But for some reason, she just knew it would be the drifter ships of Padua. Named after St. Anthony, the patron of lost souls, it was more than befitting for a colony of homeless humans. She has been here many, many times before so getting clearance to dock and start trading was easy. If she were new, she’d have to be inspected and hauled in for questioning. Nothing but a bunch of overprotective cocks with overactive imaginations. No one are here has the potential or resources to take over Padua, too many ships, too many ports, too many people! At least, that’s what Kate thinks. Of her inventory, she decides to only take on the things she knows will sell, she hopes. Sometimes certain buyers won’t be docked and no one would want what she has. However, seeing as she is here not only early on in the trading season, but early in the day, she will bet ten credits that her favorite buyer is in. After locking herself into her ‘armor’ of a black skin-suit, metal boots and arm guards, she places her most prized piece into a black backpack, tucking it just so its points don’t rip the bag itself. Walking from her ship to the main docking hallways, the intense temperature change makes Kate shiver from toes to tip, forcing her to latch up her armor to her neck, clicking the little metal clasp with a ‘slick’. She liked her ship hot, boiling hot to most but perfect to her. So this cool corridor was evil on this fine, fine morning. Oh what a glorious fucking morning.

At the main entrance from the docking hallway, a glob of a man sits on a chair waiting to scan people in as they come by and enter through the large doors behind him. But seeing as he is so asleep that a rather large amount of spit has made its way down his chin to pool on his shirt, Kate goes ahead and scans her identity card for herself. Making her way past the doors, she is instantly hungry at the smell of all the foods cooking, everything still so fresh and so fucking fragrant. But she has to get credits to get food, so business before pleasure. Without looking and pretending not to hear the calls of the food merchants, Kate nearly runs to the trading sections, dead aiming for a little shit named Shane. Leaning around the thin metal plates used as walls, she can see his small body sitting on the chair he seemed to never leave, picking away at some new toy he must have gotten recently. Knocking on a nearby table, Shane looks up and surprisingly smiles.

“Ah, my favorite scavenger!” Shane laughs at his own little joke, getting only a slight smile back.

“Good morning to you too.” She finally says as she gets close, having to maneuver around and under hanging junk. “New toy?” She looks over his shoulder, but he is quick to move to hide her view.

“Nothing too important. How is Kate Esther today?”

“As good as ever, thank you. Well, little heavy though.” She alludes to her bags, rolling her shoulder the strap sits on.

“Oh my!” Shane fakes surprise.

“Yes I know, and I think this table,” Kate taps the one beside them. “Is a little too small, might not be able to take the weight.” Her subtle hints at her big find gives Shane a little color to his pale cheeks.

“I see I see.” He says while slowly getting up, his height barely up to Kates’ breasts, but he is perfectly fine with that. “I have a sturdy table in the back, come, come!” They both make their way to the back, moving over a small piece of fabric that served as the door between his front store and back room. “Don’t disappoint me.” Childishly, he covers his eyes to increase the moment.

“Don’t under estimate me.” She retorts. With no other words, Kate opens her backpack and places her item on the table, a loud clunk making Shanes’ body jump. “It’s authentic, from a downed Yautja ship.” Finally he opens his eyes and when he does, his whole body drops in shock. Lying on his table is a full sized, intact shoulder canon with a partial shoulder harness still attached. His fingers are tingling to play with it, to touch it, to know it!

“It can’t be.” His dealers’ side kicks in on its own. “Finding and landing AND getting there and back with something is impossible.”

“Not if no one knew of it yet. How can the Yautja miss something they don’t know is gone?” She jokes back, leaning on the table with a hip.

“Point taken I suppose.” Placing on half broken glasses, Shane takes out a little kit and scrapes off a tiny bit of the gray metal, testing it and finding it is in fact real. Thinking hard, so much so to tap his little fingers on his chin, he doesn’t take his eyes off the gun. “How much do you want?”

“How much you will to pay?”

“Three thousand credits.”

“Double that and maybe.” Shane flinches, but still doesn’t take his eyes off the gun.

“I can do Forty-five hundred credits.” It looked like it wanted to be his, sitting on his table like that.

“Five thousand flat?” Kate offers, though her stomach is doing flip-flops.

“Four thousand seven-fifty. Final.”

“Done.” Shaking hands, Kate still can’t help but notice how his eyes have not left the gun. Oh well, it’s his now. Shane runs over to a small server station and after swiping a card, he hands it to her, her credits and everything on it.

“You must tell me where you got this? Is there more?” He stops her before she leaves, she just needed to eat.

“There was a ton Shane, so much I couldn’t even think of what to take.” His eyes open wider, but his next question was stupid to even think. “The Yautja were probably a day, maybe less, behind me by my guess so I took what I thought best so it wasn’t too much. But I will not risk going back.”

“Understandable, of course.” He slinks back. Turning away quickly, Kate makes a b-line back to the food stalls and before she even thinks about what to have, she finds herself sitting at a table eating the most amazing plate of meat and vegetables, this little indulgence costing her more than what her whole shopping-list will cost. But she needed it. Needed to remember what real food was like, what food from home was like. Well, what was close to the food back home. Seeing as she never has been to Earth, she can’t tell for sure it is like it at all, but she’ll tell herself so until she knows otherwise.

After going around to the other merchants, buying and selling all her other random items, Kate comes back to her ship with enough supplies to last months, if not years. And yet, she still has more than three thousand credits left, and what is a girl to do with nothing but time to waste until her water is delivered, and a whole ship of nothing but shops? Well, shop of course.

“Black, with your skin honey, no you need blues!” A woman yells from a stall selling scarves and wraps, holding a pale blue up to her face. “Yes, goes with your blue eyes, but not so much so to drown them out, yes?” She says, smiling her toothless smile.

“Thank you but no, not for me today.” Kate waves her off, heading for the welders down the way. She needed to get new pieces of armor and get old things repaired, and it’s going to be expensive. Running around her are little children, covered with whatever ratty clothing they could find and scrape together. Giggling and chasing after each other, playing that sweet game of tag before the real world starts its bullshit. She remembers those days, those friends she had. And yet, Kate is quick to put a hand over where she placed her new credit card, she knows exactly what their plans are. Her days of youth were full of thievery, pick pocketing and all those sweet dirty deeds that make a childhood a happy one to look back at. The stall she was looking for constantly moved to keep the prying eyes of common folk away. While it was kept up as a simple metal smith, the back room was always for the more forward customers looking to upgrade their current closet of armor. Surprisingly, it was close to where it was last time, tucked into the far dark corner of Padua it’s self. Entering the door a man is instantly standing behind her, but not so much as to offend her. She knows he is merely security, meant to weed out those window shopping to those who mean business. So without looking at anything else that hung from the sad thin walls, Kate walks straight into the back room.

“My goodness, it has been too long my friend.” Jumping up from his seat, the old man Jenkins waddles over to Kate, slower than usual but with his old age and rather short left leg, not entirely unexpected.

“Jenkins, still young as ever.” She smiles and hugs him lightly, embracing him and all the memories that came with it.

“Word around Padua is you brought in a rather hot item, no?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about.” She tells back smoothly, as if she truly has no idea what he was speaking of.

“Well then, must be someone else. Come, come see what I have!” Ushering her in deeper into the stall, Kate follows him through tight hallways and finally down a few sets of stairs until it opens into a large room. From wall to wall, Jenkins has his best of the best shown off, from guns to armor to licenses to purchase ships. If only she could afford a new ship, that’ll be the day. “We got this new alloy, tougher than titanium but lighter than air, we made suits that you can get as a whole or piece by piece. Weapons I know aren’t your things, but a girl needs protection, no?”

“Agreed.” She laughs with him, looking at the products as they walk by. She has to admit that while user friendly, they are also rather fashionable.

“This one is by far the most popular, with its detachable helmet and armor plates around the whole body, you can decide between light or heavy protection.” This little unit instantly catches Kates’ attention, because while most armor now-a-days is made for men and while companies would try to retrofit them to fit a woman’s body, they never got it right. Most of them would over emphasize the breasts to the point of letting them hang out. This little number, however, has a chest plate that really protects, flattening the chest so you can’t tell the difference between genders. “Comes in black and gray, depending on locations of your excavations.” They both laugh at the word ‘excavations’. “It has the newest upgrades for breathing and recycling air, less than a 10% waste in the exchange. And might I say, extremely easy to clean. Hell, just shower with it and its clean!”

“And what about under-suits?” She asks as she fingers the fabric between her fingers, noting how she can feel the tiny lines on the mesh that is interwoven into the fabric itself. This kind of technology, also stolen from the Yautja, was amazing at holding body heat, absorbing sweat and fits like a fucking glove.

“Comes with five, but you can always purchase more, of course.” Jenkins smiles, his hands fidget together in anticipation on the sale.

“And how much does this wondrous suit cost?” Kate looks at him in the eye, and the silence tells her that he is debating on more than a few things.

“For you, eight hundred.” Shock and a rather large hint of gratefulness runs through her top to bottom, she knows this can go for double that. “I need a favor.” Of. Fucking. Course.

“Seems like a rather expensive favor.”

“All I need is the location of where you for the gun for Shane.” Again, shock rings through her.

“And how the fuck do you even know that?” Kate takes a step back, not liking how her business is known so fast. Yes, maybe after a few days or weeks, but she’d be long gone before anyone knew anything of her business. Fuck.

“Shane and I are now in business together, don’t worry your tight little ass missy.”

“Watch your mouth old man.” She smirks at his same old cockiness.

“We need to know, we need more of that Yautja technology. Do you have any idea how behind we are? Just on your find alone, we can figure out what kind of metals they really use, their ammo, their fucking everything. Shane is so fucking close to getting their cloaking mesh down, you have no idea!” The old man’s cheeks start to go red in excitement. “Please. I am honestly even willing to give you the whole suit if you give me that location.”

“But the Yautja are probably already there Jenkins, you really want to give away a two thousand credit suit for information to a place you might not even be able to get to?” Kate asks, really worried not only for her safely, but of her associates.

“We have to risk it, don’t you see. If we get there even an hour before they do! Imagine Kate. The whole suit!” At that Kate turns to leave, her information was weeks old and for sure by now the Yautja would have been there and cleaned up. She can’t in good conscience accept a whole new suit for old information. “Plus!” Jenkins grabs her arm. “Plus five more under-suits, and and and” He begins to stutter, something she knows he only does when he is really nervous. “And I can get you more credits, and more foods, anything Kate. Please!”

“Stop, Jenkins, stop. I’ll give you the location but I don’t need anything back, it’s too old.” She tries, but Jenkins insists to give her the suit, implying that their future profit won’t care about a measly two thousand credits. Accepting begrudgingly, Kate goes to a server station and brings up maps of different systems, focusing on Andale Prime, a pitiful looking dot of a system and shows them which planet and where on it they can find the crash site.

“You have no idea what you’ve done for us Kate, you really don’t.”

If only she knew.

“” “” “” “”

Holding a large suitcase that is heavier that her own body, Kate walks awkwardly towards the sections she has been thinking about for months and months. The second she passes two large and elegantly decorated doors, she is bombarded with music and the sound of girls laughing. All around her are colors she hasn’t seen in who knows how long, faces she have never seen at all, girls and woman of all ages talking and laughing, shopping in large groups all around the stalls meant just for them.

“Kate, is that you?” Cutting through the crowd, a friendly face finally shows up that doesn’t want to sell something to her.

“Lain, oh wow hi!” Emotion brings Kate to tears and she drops her knew suit, but places a foot on it to keep it safe as she and her friend hug hard. “Hi.” She says again, her face hidden in her friends thick black hair. Lain and Kate grew up together, so to speak. According to Lain and her mother, she never really grew up. To their family, growing up means settling down and taking a husband, breeding children. And by all means, Kate would do that in an instant if she could afford to. Not only is getting a license to marry and have children costly, but she can barely afford to feed herself. Let alone others. And, of the men available on Padua, none of them would want a girl with no family and no history to her name. Rather sad really.

“Where have you been for so long?” Lain asks taking her head back, tears in her eyes too.

“Too far. Too long. Oh I missed you!” Hugging hard again, the girls can’t help but hold each other and reaffirm their friendship. After letting each other go, Lain takes Kate and her suitcase to her mothers’ shop to place it in a safe place while they go around the stalls, Lain commenting on how they both really need a haircut.

“So anything new? Space still big?” Her friends asks, never one for space travel herself, Lain was born and raised on Padua and has no intention to leave anytime soon. Kate on the other hand doesn’t know how she ended up on Padua, where she was before or really anything before she was ten. Oh well.

“Big as ever. Although shit is just getting farther and farther apart.” She laughs as she follows behind her, weaving her way around people in the way. “Where are we going?” She has to yell.

“To get that mop of stuff you call hair cut off!” Doesn’t take long for the hairdresser to shave what was left of Kates hair, buzzing it almost to the skin at the back while letting stay longer in the front, her bangs barely hitting her eyes. Sleek, shiny and clean. Just how she liked it. Lain, on the other hand? Some people were not meant to have curly hair.

“” “” “” “”

Back on her ship, Kate slides her new suit into her closet to keep it safe as her water is delivered, can’t trust some people on Padua. It takes less than an hour for her ship to be full of clean, fresh water. Even less time for her to get the fuck off the docks. With a promise to come back more often to Lain, and a bigger one to her mother, Kate sets her ship to drift around a close planet, intending on catching up on sleep. But before, she has to try on her new suit. So running back into her room, she opens the suit case and sighs at the sight on her new clean mask. Its slopes and curves are so elegant, just the black eye slits really visible under the brow. The chest place is lined like that of real human muscle, as well as the plates on each arm and leg. The only things really new and different compared to the older suits are the shoes and gloves, that being more movement. After getting her body into the tight under-suit, Kate can already see her body adding mass from her past dinners and smiles happily, she needs to get healthy again. She latches on the boots, all the way from her feet to her knees, and does the same for her arms. She stretches this way and that, seeing how far she can really go and honestly doesn’t find that line of where she can’t bend or flex. Perhaps this was a good deal.

“” “” “” “”

Jenkins stands behind the pilots’ chair, silently hoping for no bleeps or sounds as they finish their scans of the area. In the small cockpit of the ship, the scavenger crew he hired also anxiously waits for any sign of another ship, anything to indicate that they aren’t here alone. They had arrived at the system Kate Esther had told them where her site was three weeks after first learning of its existence, and from the looks of the planet and the rather large impact on its surface that has not been cleaned, Jenkins bets the Yautja don’t know of it yet. And nothing can make him happier. The Yautja are notorious for cleaning any evidence of their existence rather quickly, so if this site is still not cleaned after more than two months of being here, either they really don’t know or it’s a trap. But when his pilot looks over his shoulder and shrugs, it seems there isn’t any evidence that there is a Yautja ship here or ever has been but for the wreckage. Perfect.

“Go in?” The pilot asks, fingers twitching to go in. Just thinking about his cut makes his gut wiggle.

“Slow. Make a run around the planet itself, just in case.” Simply nodding, the pilot takes control and starts in on a swoop of their site. It was smart, he agreed on that, but he wants to get down on the ground as soon as possible. If the Yautja are on their way, it’ll be just his fucking luck that they get there with a piece of their ship in his hands. “Can’t believe Kate didn’t take more.” Jenkins says absentmindedly.

“No, makes sense really. Take one thing from a trillion and who will miss it. And it was all she needed for a payday. My bet,” Another on the crew starts as he looks at the screens of empty space. “Is that she took more, just so she can sell it bit by bit.”

“Maybe.” He agrees, but doubts it. Kate is too smart to risk it.

“” “” “” “”
Almost close enough to smell them, Eceri clicks his mandibles together as he watches the Ooman ship circle around the bait. This was just the second ship seen since they planted this ‘downed ship’ of theirs on this hunk of a planet. He had anticipated more after the first Ooman had landed. However, he has to acknowledge that only a shoulder cannon was missing from the set-up, nothing more. He was given this task to find out who was embezzling Yautja goods from downed hunters or as in this case, a fallen ship. Even worse it is seems is Oomans have figured a way to hunt them, using their technology and its signatures to find them, kill and take what they want. While both situations are rare, both seem to have the same effect. But they are a quick bunch, these Yautja, and with a few modifications Eceri knows they can’t be seen even though they are close enough for the Oomans to just look outside and see them. Oomans, while now a race driven from their home world and into cold space, always seem to come up with stuff that isn’t theirs. And inconveniently, it seems, they are using Yautja technology to expand. And the Patriarch is not happy.

“Arbitrator Eceri, they have made a full circle. Will we wait until they have landed to take them into custody?” Eceris right hand, Tog, asks blatantly.

“Take them now. Don’t want any signs of them on the planet in case more come.” With that, Tog nods to the weapons section and with one hit of a button an invisible shot it out and hits the Ooman ship at the back. Within seconds, it starts to stall and then it’s motionless. “Track the ship in, take each Ooman into their own cell.”

“I will interrogate them. This batch seems like they know exactly what they are doing.” Eceri turns and starts towards the holding bay, taking his time in getting there though. He knows the Oomans will have weapons and far be it from him to tell his hunters not to kill an Ooman who shots him. Out of the nine lives on board, he only expects five, maybe six, to come out alive. But one thing is for sure, Eceri will figure out who has been hunting them, who has been stealing from them and he will make them pay.

“” “” “” “”

Dredging up her fishing line, Kate seethes as it cuts into her palm, but no so deep so it really hurts. She had found this planet by happenstance and from all the things she’s been able to collect, her day can’t get any better. The fruits she can freeze, the meats from the animals as well, the fish too. So many things! She had already made three trips to and from her ship, her little jumper can’t hold much but she knows her hunk of junk ship can’t make a reentry into any atmosphere. But this’ll do. For a fleeting moment Kate thought of settling down on this planet. It was relatively close to what Earth used to be. Blue sky, blue water, green grass. However, a big however really, was that it was in a section of space that was known for its ‘pirates’. Mercenaries and killers are abound in space, for obvious reasons. Who can patrol them? And on a planet as nice as this, they would set up camp here just like she did and then what would happen? Mayhem. So she needs to get in and get out as soon as possible.

“Shame really.” She says to herself out loud as she picks out all the fish from the net. “I like it here. It’s nice and hot, good lakes, fuck all it needs is a shop to make ice-cream and I’m set.” She laughs. Her thoughts are broken when her hip starts to chirp, her little device that connects to her ship bleeping about incoming messages. So picking up speed, Kate puts all the fish into a crate, her net back into its place in her bag and starts for her jumper. If only she had taken a few more things from that damned Yautja site, she could have actually bought a new ship. Oh well, what’s done is done. Once docked back, she places her stock into her large freezer in the bowls of her ship, inwardly giggling at all the food she has. She hasn’t had her ship this stocked in years. Again, her hip starts to vibrate. She leisurely walks into her cockpit, but what was waiting for her was not welcome. Opening her messages, the ugly face of someone she knows too well stares at her.

“This is Detective Chase of the Padua Council of Police Services.” Like she didn’t know that. Fucker. “We are investigating the disappearance of a Robert K. Jenkins and the crew of the vessel known as The Betsy. After deep investigation, it was evidence that you, Miss Kate Esther, was one of the last known associates of Mr. Jenkins to give him information for a new excavation and dig site. Due to this, we at PCPS call on you to come and give us a statement as to your whereabouts the past month, the locations of any and all sites you have previously given to Mr. Jenkins and any and all information you deem fit. If we do not receive confirmation that you have received this summons we will send someone to collect you. Good day.” The messages end abruptly, a sour taste is suddenly in her mouth and she wants nothing more than to spit it out. Detective Chase. Michael Chase. Motherless fuck.

“” “”” “” “”

“I told him it was stupid, I didn’t want to tell him but he begged.” Kate explains yet again. For three days she has been ‘held’ and ‘questioned’ about Jenkins, she wants to find him as much as they do.

“He begged for the location to a Yautja crash and you gave it to him? He is probably dead Kate and you are the cause of it.” She shakes her head at Detective Chases’ words; she already knew all that and already felt guilty.

“I already told you were the site is.” She lied. “I told you I trust you to find them.” She lied again. “And I leave this in your hands Detective Chase.” She wouldn’t leave a hotdog in his hands. “I figured he’d go and there wouldn’t be anything left, that the Yautja would have been there and cleaned it up already and everyone would come out safe.” She tries. Her ass was numb from sitting in the flat metal chair for days, her muscles begged to move. Chase on the other hand didn’t have to spend the nights in a cell and every day would come back clean cut with his black hair buzzed and perfectly pressed black Officer suit. Which according to many people, fit him too tightly.

“Embezzling Yautja goods Kate, really? You know that is highly illegal because of the reactions we get back from them. They know we know of their existence but we need to keep ourselves safe. Do you have any idea what they will do if they track their gun to Padua? They will rip apart this colony like it was nothing to get their shit back.” Detective Chase sighs and leans on the table. “Look, you didn’t really do anything criminal, but you need to start thinking Kate. I mean, damn it! If people get wind of a Yautja item on board they will all run away for fear of them coming.”

“I guess I didn’t think of that happening.” She admits, honestly not realizing how far they would go.

“No, you didn’t fucking think at all did you.” Anger flairs inside Kate and suddenly she is on the defensive, sitting up straight.

“You say I’ve done nothing criminal? Then why have you kept me here for so fucking long?”

“We are searching your ship for anything else that might belong to them.” Kate stands up abruptly, causing her hair to fall backwards.

“How dare you go onto my ship without my consent, that is so illegal Michael! And I have an inventory of every goddamned thing on there, from how many pounds of meat to how many pieces of fucking toilet paper I have. And I swear, if I notice one thing missing I will sue the police on this godforsaken clusterfuck of a colony for everything they have. Even if it’s nothing!” She screams. “Now. Let. Me. Go.”

“People are questioning about why they left in such a hurry, Kate. If they find out.”

“Do you think I give a shit. I’m out of here the second you open that door. This is your shit Chase, not mine. You have to deal with this. Not me.” Chases scratches his chin, a small and rather pitiful amount of hair sticking out in an attempt to grow a beard.

“We will be watching you Kate.” He says as he walks to the door of the small room, opening it too damn slowly.

“Yeah I fucking doubt it.” Kate seethes back and without another word she grabs her short jacket and bolts from the room. Walking down the hallways of the station, she nods her head to many of the other officers, she grew up with all these people. Funny thing is, she knows every dirty little secrets of everyone who are on the pay roll to be ‘cops’, as the old word was. Not everyone is perfect though, she knows that. She fleetingly wonders what would have happened if she stayed on Padua. Would she be the one wearing that tight little Officer suit, or the one in the drunk tank. Who cares anyways, no point to think about the past.

“” “”” “” “”

Her ship was coasting, all her lights are off and minimal power was set on. Something was crawling up Kates back, a horrible feeling is seeded in her gut about the Andale Prime system, specifically the planet her little find was on. Not only was it still here and not cleaned up, but from her quick scans she can tell no one has set down since her. That means Jenkins never made it. Kate absently chews her bottom lip, her heart already knowing he is dead but she doesn’t want to admit it. Her dash beeps, saying its third scan of the whole system came up with nothing. But something isn’t right. Growling to herself, Kate doesn’t trust that Jenkins didn’t make it. She knows those on the crew of The Betsy. They were the best of the best and would have made it no matter what. They have to be down there.

Running to her room, she gets her new suit on in seconds, tightening the chest plate so it nearly hurts. As she puts the mask on, the latches clicking into place loudly, she gets into the jumper dock that was on the lowest level of her ship. The jumper itself could probably fit three people uncomfortably. But fits her just right. Sliding into the pilot seat, she wastes no time in jetting from the bay and makes her way to the surface, getting as close to the site as safely possible. But she can tell just from what she remembers, nothing has changed.

The main crash spot was nothing but burnt and broken metals, bits and pieces of it thrown off in the distance. She would have walked the whole perimeter of the site, but no more than ten meters in every direction was thick forests of large black plants. And if she had the right thinking at that moment, she would have seen how perfectly placed the little crashed shit was. But alas, her mind is on other things.

“” “”” “” “”

“It is the same ship as the first.” Tog says, looking over his shoulder to his Arbitrator. “From what the Oomans told us, this is not right. No?”

“No, this isn’t what we were expecting, is it?” Eceri says back. In all matters from what the Oomans told them, they had expected a rather large search group to follow within a few weeks. Reportedly but seemingly false, this Ooman Jenkins was ‘someone’ on their colony and he had continually ‘warned’ of a rescue group. Lucky for him, he is a little too dead to notice his people don’t really care for him enough to go find him. Hysterical.

“The jumper landed a few meters from the bait, but the Ooman isn’t going to inspect it. It is only looking around the grounds.”

“It’s looking for signs of its friends. Shame none of them exist anymore.” They all laugh. Extracting information is easy when Oomans are in question. They would have sold Eceri their first born if that meant getting out alive. But with the Patriarch giving Eceri all proper permits to get a resolution, rules are out the door. Imprisonment, torture, death. All in a glorious days work for an Arbitrator tasked with finding criminals.

And this one was next.

“” “”” “” “”

Authors note: New story, need to get back into the swing. Let me know what you think. It’s good to be back. E.M.