veenknight343
"I'm happy to see you as well, fairest sister." Asallia said from her seat on one of the three marble leather couches in the room. A smile came to her face as she spoke, bright, warm, and visibly exhausted.
Lycoris hadn't noticed it in the Princess. Caught up in her own emotions and believing she had caught her in the middle of a nap, anyone as close as family would be able to tell she hadn't been sleeping or at least not well.
A cold cup of tea, likely forgotten and left untouched on her bedside for sometime, was clutched in Asallia's graceful gloved hands the way a man man thrown into space would clutch a life-line. She drank deeply from the cup in a sophisticated manner that had all but been bred into her at birth before pulling the drink from her lips.
"I've come to Venus to stop blood from being shed." Asallia's smile was still as bright as it had been moments before, but her tone was poisoned with a new gravity to them.
The cup clinked against the saucer sitting on the marble coffee table in front of her as the Princess took a moment to softly inhale.
"So as much as I would dearly love to hold a concert, part of me is fearful it would be highly inappropriate to do so soon after arriving. However, when I inevitably do you will be the first one I invite."
Asallia looked up, still smiling, but her weariness cut into the warmth of her expression as she straightened her back.
"You should know what's coming Sheena, otherwise you wouldn't be here. The additional troops wouldn't be here. This ship wouldn't be here. Venus has been the most neglected and abused out of all the Empire's holdings and now we're reaping the 'rewards' of our actions. If things are allowed to remain on their current course countless people will die. And with father-"
The princess stopped abruptly and swallowed hard.
"And with father the way he is now the reaction to the coming violence will not be one of intelligence and understanding."
Casting her eyes down to the marbled floor Asallia took a moment to collect herself before reaching beside her and holding up a small writing tablet.
"I have a speech prepared for the arrival ceremony. Its not the one I informed the planners I would be making of course. Its one of my usual 'mood killers' as father used to call them."
Asallia's eyes welled with a distant nostalgia and she let out a soft giggle as she looked back up to Sheena.
"When I was younger, father would have me come to his chambers when he was feeling lethargic and complacent. He'd tell me just to 'speak my mind'. Yet, whatever I said always seemed to anger him so much that he'd end up shouting for a servant to come to take down his words for later reference. I would just stand there, smiling as a confused scribe sat in hunched over terror as father launched into a tirade about diversifying wheat seed strains or some such nonsense."
Lycoris picked herself off the carpeted flooring, briefly thankful she was still in the gravity block of the ship and hadn't been launched half-way down the hallway from the impact. As she pushed herself to her feet she readied and obligatory apology to whatever gruff military man or abrasive noble that he barreled into her. However when she looked up and opened her mouth to speak, Lycoris's face froze as she stared into an all too familiar face.
"Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."
The girl's eyes narrowed and almost glassed over behind her thick framed glasses, only barely keeping her groan internalized inside her own head.
"Hi, Lucas." Lycoris eventually said, containing her reserved dread as she dusted herself off.
In the two month journey to Venus, Lycoris had been avoiding many people. She had more or less held up in the quarters given to her, only popping out for food or to use the various amenities on the ship when she assumed everyone else was asleep or busy with other duties. A part of this was her reluctance to speak with Asallia until mere moments ago. The other was avoid certain people she knew were on-board the ship.
One of whom was Lucas.
"Uh, sure Lucas. I really enjoyed hearing about how that one insect rolled fecal matter into large balls. It was very...stimulating to learn."
Lycoris did her best to smile and feign interest, already hoping a hull breach would suck her out into the vacuum of space and into the sweet embrace of death.
With the expo being set up on Venus various industrialists, researchers, and such had been given passage to the orange planet on the Venue. Most were complete strangers, but some Lycoris had met at MIT and others later during the start of the project. Plenty were grating, arrogant, and confrontational intellectuals who didn't like to be told they were wrong about anything. Most knew Lycoris by reputation alone and she had spent 60 days doing her best to avoid getting into spats so she could work in peace.
But Lucas was different.
Lycoris still remembered the boy from MIT, though only barely. He largely blended into the background compared to her other classmates. While they struggled or excelled, Lucas always treaded the middle ground in both his grades and design work. Even after Lycoris had learned he had been pulled into the the project and gotten to peak at what he was working on, it became apparent that Lucas hadn't changed at all.
Lucas wasn't bad or incompetent in Lycoris's mind he was just...banal.
Everything he made bothered Lycoris and filled her with an irate criticism. It all felt too safe, too overly practical. What should have been ground breaking, awe inspiring work was instead underwhelming in design and presentation.
Yet as uninspired as she saw his designs they were functional, which was more then Lycoris was able to claim.
She had stove to reach great heights only to be driven into the ground by her failure. Lucas meanwhile had gained more acclaim and respect by being mediocre then she had with her best efforts.
Just seeing Lucas left Lycoris with a deep bitter taste in her mouth and a heavy stone of regret sitting inside her stomach.
And what made it all worse was that Lucas was actually nice.
Difficult to talk too and with a weird obsession with animals that reminded her of stories of 'animal enthusiasts' Asallia had imparted onto her, but he wasn't offensive. As much as she wanted to hate Lucas and sought an excuse to resent him, Lycoris could find nothing. So she stood and smiled, left with an awkward mix of emotions she felt she wasn't justified to have...
Wiping her face with her ratty pillow, Laika left the crowded capsule apartment complex and was back on the streets again. She was happy that no one could hear her crying amidst the bustle of their own lives, not that anyone likely cared.
"I need to make some fast cash to pay rent tommorrow, or I'll be sleeping on the streets. Maybe I could steal some, but I need to stay out of trouble...
Laika's mind wandered as she walked aimlessly through the dark Venusian streets, only orange street lamps and bright neon signs lighting her way. Turning off the increasingly crowded street she ducked into an alleyway. Part of her was looking for a fight, figuring it wasn't 'trouble' if someone happened to make trouble with you and happened to lose whatever money they had after doing so.
She strode into the middle of the T-shaped alleyway, which was lit in the center by a single dying overhead lamp attached to the side of a building. Trash and refuse lined the sides of the alleyway and it appeared almost entirely empty save for the strange, unseen vermin likely skittering about.
Letting out a sigh Laika turned around to head back when she saw a man standing at the entrance to the alleyway she had come from.
She stared at the distant dark silhouette, the orange glare of the far off street lamps shrouding it in shadow. Slowly she turned, ready to walk the other way.
As looked however there was yet another silhouette in the distance, standing on the sidewalk.
Heart beginning to pick up speed as realization walked over to her, Laika look down the central alley of the T-shaped alleyway. There, tucked away in the shadows, was a man leaning up against the wall.
"Employee 51313?" The man asked, as a lit cigarette briefly illuminated his worn and semi-wrinkled face.
Laika stared back intently, noticing the other two men at the other ends of the alley beginning to move towards her.
"I'm not employed anymore." Laika said as the man blew cigarette smoke towards her and stepped into the light.
The man was in his late 30's and was dressed in heavy boots, brown slacks, a black vest, and a heavy coat. A wide brim hat sat atop his head, hiding fraying red hair that poked out from beneath. Laika's eyes were drawn to a bronze colored plate pinned to the side of the man's vest.
BOBBY ENFORCEMENT AGENCY
Laika's muscled tensed up and the man seemed to smirk at a little seeing her reaction.
"But you were. And the man you were employed by is very unhappy about what you did to his office, and his ear drums."
Laika stepped back, doing her best not to eye the space the lead enforcer had left in the alleyway he stood in. She kept note of how close the other men were getting and shook her head.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I was fired and left. That's it."
"Really? Are you sure you're not an avid music fan? Though, I guess it doesn't really matter if you are or not. Your former boss seems pretty certain you had something to do with what happened. And he's paid us to ensure there are immediate consequences for what happened."
The man spoke slowly and deliberately, enjoying his cigarette and the growing look of apprehension on Laika's face.
Just as the man took a deep toke of his cigarette Laika shot forward, attempting to push past the man and make make a break for it.
As she did so however the man swept into her way and jerked out his knee, slamming his leg into her groin. Laika winced and stumbled backwards, but the lack of pain on her face seemed to surprise the man.
"You're a girl? Huh, you Vensians really are de-evolving." The man flicked his cigarette into Laika's face just as the other two men closed in.
Laika lunged forward but the man threw out a punch. She managed to jerk her head side-ways to avoid the blow only to move right into the path of another punch. A meaty fist made contact with her temple which threw her into another punch, and another. Eventually she was throw up against the wall, directly under the light.
"We can make this a bit easier. Don't really need to be rough with you as long as you get the idea of what your boss intends to do, and you're willing to grease the wheels a little."
The man rubbed his fingers together.
"I don't have any mon-"
Laika barely got the words out when the lead enforcer punched her clean in the face, a sharp pain radiating from her nose as the back of her head smashed into the wall behind her. The other two enforcers began to punch, slamming closed hands into her chest to knock the wind out of her as they threw her to the ground. They were just beginning to kick Laika when a voice called out.
"My, my is this how gentlemen treat young ladies nowadays? You'll never win her heart with such uncouth behavior...only her wrath."
The three suited enforcers standing over Laika briefly froze as a female voice reached them. Slowly they looked over their shoulders to see a hunched over, hooded figure standing at the throat of the alleyway. Seeing the well covered but seemingly wizened figure allowed the men to relax, expressions of concern flashing into sneers.
"Keep your mouth shut, hag. We're on official corporate business. You haven't gotten to be as old as you are by being stupid, so be on your way." The lead enforcer warned, but a sharp peal of laughter briefly erupted out from underneath the stranger's hood as they hobbled forward.
"Old? Who said I was old? Its so very rude to assume a women's age you know. Keep acting like that and I might have to punish you..."
Laika remained on her knees and supported by one hand, clutching her face to stem the bleeding from her nose. The girl's eyes widened as recognized the voice.
Wordlessly the lead man glanced to the man to his left and nodded towards the figure as they continued to hobble towards them.
Striding forward, the man pulled a telescopic baton from his belt and deployed it with one swift motion of his arm. Running forward the enforcer raised his hand high above his hand and brought the baton down on the head of the cloaked figgure.
SLAM!
A sharp, heavy impact rang out up and down the alley as the lead man expected to hear.
Yet the sound was off. It wasn't metal striking flesh.
It was metal striking metal.
Looking up from the ground and down the alleyway, Laika saw an arm of sleek black nanocarbon had caught the weighted tip of the telescopic baton mid swing. The cloaked figure's hand closed tightly around the tip just as the Enforcer tried to pull his arm back, the black arm no so much as budging. Muscles straining, blood rushing to his face, the enforcer struggled to free his weapon as the black arm moved. Effortlessly it bent the the telescopic plasteel baton into a U-shape, the hooded figure's posture growing straighter and standing taller as they did so.
Releasing his weapon the enforcer tried to shove the figure away, but only succeeded in jostling them and knocking back their hood.
As soon as the enforcers saw the women's face their own went pallid.
Laika smiled, tears welling up in her eyes.
Standing there before the enforcer was a women with short, lustrous black hair. An orange eye stared out from beneath the shadow cast by her hair and beside it an orange compound optic eye-patch glowed. Her skin was smooth and fair, barely carrying the subtle signs of countless surgeries and recovered wounds.
"Captain...Captain Cathrida." Laika thought, her heart nearly skipping a beat.
"My my what's with that expression? A man like you should be thrilled to see such a beautiful women. Here, let me fix that look for you!!"
Dropping the bent baton the orange eyed women lunged her right arm forward.
Sharp fingers pierced the enforcer's face before he could so much as lean backwards.
With a mechanical strength the fingers broke the skin, drawing blood and pushing away the muscle beneath as they curled inwards.
Jerking her arm backwards there was a wet, disgusting tearing noise as the enforcer was released from the women's grip and dropped to the ground.
The lead enforcer and his comrade could only stare as their friend fell before the women bleeding from the mass of exposed muscle where his face had once been as physical shock muted any screams he might have made.
"Its awfully hypocritical to judge the appearance of others when you yourself are so...unimpressive looking."
Cathrida held up the bleeding, torn away face of the enforcer before casually tossing it to the side where it wetly slapped against the side of a nearby trashcan.
As the women turned her almost glowing gaze to them both enforcer's sprung into action.
The lead enforcer dove a hand into his jacket, going for his shoulder holster as the other ripped a taser from his belt. Cathrida surged forward, her legs carrying her down the alley with frightening speed. She closed in on the taser wielding enforcer as the lead enforcer raised his pistol and took aim for her head.
Finger tightening around the trigger the man was ready to fire when Laika rose up, and thrust a close fist up between the man's legs.
"AIGH!" The lead enforcer squealed in pain, nearly doubling over as the other enforcer thrust his taser at Cathrida as she ran up to him.
Swinging her arm up Cathrida struck the man's arm from below, deflecting his thrust over her shoulder and leaving his torso exposed.
CRACK CRACK!
Cathrida's black fists slammed into both sides of the man's ripcage, which broken beneath her blows like Popsicle sticks. Winded and disoriented by pain the man stumbled backwards as Cathrida raised her hands over he head and brought them down onto his.
There was an audible slam and another, far louder crack as the man was sent flying backwards into the nearby wall where he dropped to the ground and went limp.
Having briefly stunned the lead enforcer Laika pushed herself to her feet and kicked the man in the back, knocking him to the cold concrete and sending his pistol sailing from his grip. It clattered across the ground, briefly spinning until it stopped below the black shiny heeled boots of Cathrida.
Bending over the red cloaked women gingerly picked up the semi-automatic, straightening upwards only to frown as she looked at her hands.
Both arms of sleek black nano-carbon and a hard, red fibrous material were coated in blood which dripped onto the ground and threatened to run down her arms and stain her clothes.
"Hmph. Barely here fifteen minutes and I'm already disgusting. Venus really isn't conducive to clean leaving." Cathrida mused before she was all but tackled by Laika.
"Captain! Captain! I knew you'd come back, I always knew!"
Laika kept her arms wrapped around Cathrida's waist, pressing her face into the women's grey and red top as she failed to hold back her tears.
Amidst the filthy alley where to corpses lay Cathrida stood immobilized, her blood stained hands held up and away from the young girl clinging to her so tightly. For a moment the women stared down in unfamiliar surprise, her human eye wide. Slowly however she relaxed and a small, quiet smile came to her face.
"My, how my little cabin girl has grown..."
Cathrida was tempted to wrap her own arms around Laika, ignoring the blood, but as she looked over the girl's shoulder she saw the lead enforcer trying to crawl away.
Gently pushing Laika to the side Cathrida walked over, grabbing the back of the man's neck and lifting him off the ground. Effortlessly she threw him backwards, sending him crashing down at Laika's feet.
"This isn't the place for heart-warming reunions I'm afraid." Cathrida said, pulling the slide back on the semi-automatic pistol.
"We can't leave any witnesses right now, so show me that you haven't lost your touch."
Smiling Cathrida tossed the loaded gun at Laika. Reaching out she caught the pistol which felt all too natural in her hand. Checking the safety she aimed the gun down at the lead enforcer, who pushed himself up into a sitting position and clasped his hands.
"Please! Please just let me live! I won't tell anyone I swear!"
Laika stared down at the man, pistol aimed at his head. Her finger tightened around the trigger, her heart beginning to pick up in speed as she stared into his eyes.
But she didn't pull it. Relaxing her finger she stepped back, lowering the pistol to her side.
"Thank you! Tha-"
No sooner did the words leave the man's mouth did Laika's right foot swing up and smash into the man's throat. Pulling away, blood rushed from the man's jugular as Laika planted her foot back on the ground the blade in her boot retracting inwards. The man's hands went to his throat as he choked and gurgled, doubling over.
"Good girl, you remembered not to make undue noise." Cathrida said, practically beaming as Laika glared down at the lead enforcer as he drowned in his own blood.
"I am done letting people hurt me." Laika said coldly, her eyes locked onto the man who slowly died at her feet.
Cathrida's smile withered.
"Where's your 'uncle'?" Cathrida asked.
"Dead." Laika said, her voice growing quieter. "He died two years ago."
Silence fell over the alley as the three men lay still and strewn about the trash.
Wiping her hands off on one of the dead men's pants Cathrida walked up to Laika, who didn't lift her eyes from the body in front of her. Pulling her close she rested her head against Laika's and whispered.
"I didn't mean to leave you here for so long."
Still clutching the un-fired gun Laika hugged the women back, closing her eyes tightly.
"I'm just glad you're back."
Laika's voice cracked as she spoke and Cathrida swallowed hard. She allotted herself a few moments to stand with the girl before pulling back from her.
"We need to go." Cathrida stated firmly, glancing up and down the T-shaped back alley.
"We can catch up on the way. Do you know a place where we can lay low for a bit? Things are about to get hot around here, and not because of these three."
"There's a bar called the Grand. Zern avoid the place, only drunks and nice people go there--er our kind of 'nice'." Laika wiped at her face with her wrist, tucking her newly acquired pistol away into her jumpsuit as Cathrida nodded.
"Lead the way then, I think its time I made some fast friends..."
"Yes, captain!"
Nodding her head Cathrida pulled her hood over her head as the two slunk their way out of the alleyway and disappeared into the streets...