by Reiter
Annsura spun around after hearing a loud thump. Olkin was on the ground, stunned and moaning. Marlene stood over him with her rifle in her hands. “He’ll never forgive me for that,” Marlene said as a tear escaped her eye.
“Tell him I thanked you for it,” Annsura replied as she walked quickly over to Icarus. “The rest he already knows!
“No long goodbyes, people. Take care of yourselves, and tell Llaz that he’s my pick.”
“Dammit!” Agatha cried as she grabbed on to Marlene’s arm. “Dammit it to hell!”
“Yeah,” Annsura smirked. “Me too.” She threw her leg over the sky-bike and was airborne. Icarus was not performing at his best, but he was still flying fast enough to achieve the altitude that stood the most chance of protecting the crew. She looked back at them as they picked up Persephone and carried her over to Tank who was preparing his catch-net. Soon they would do the same with Z.
“And the crew will be safe,” she thought. “… and that, after all, is my job!
“Z,” she said softly after activating her recording feature. “Not sure if any of this will survive the blast, but I figure if there’s a fragment, you’ll find it and yank these words out.” Satithe did not see the reason behind reminding Annsura that she was still connected to her mask and brace-com. She and CK had run their calculations and with the Xara-Mansura so far away from NayFall, there were no other options. “… let’s come clean about a few facts. I’m damaged goods, and deep down even you would have to admit that. You even caught a glimpse of the killer inside me. Thank you for showing me unconditional love. I challenge you to do it again. Why do I get the feeling I just gave you an easy assignment?!
“Olkin, I love you!” she whispered. “You found a way to let me be loved, Cupid. That will always be your sweetest shot to me! Your bow is strong and your quiver is overflowing with arrows. Honor us if you must, but don’t you dare put down that bow! Not if you loved me at all.”
“Ten seconds, Cutter,” Satithe reported. “And thank you… for everything!”
“Truly my pleasure,” Annsura said before jumping off of Icarus. At its best speed it flew straight down. Annsura dropped, taking in a deep breath. She said her words as the signal in her display flashed. She was in range of the descending bomb. Removing her mask and letting it go, she took hold of the boots, looking at them, placing one in either hand.
“Damn if she doesn’t have some bad-ass boots!”
** b *** t *** o *** r **
The brightness of the light burned at her eyes and Persephone tried to roll over. To her credit, Marlene was able to hold the stunned and groggy woman still as she could hear weapons charging. She squinted and looked up to see that she was in some sort of chamber, surrounded by well-armed and armoured Jeelah. Not that Persephone Endigun cared!
“Cutter?” she said, looking up at Marlene who could not hold her stare. “Let go of me or die!” Marlene released her hold on the woman’s body and Persephone stood up to find that her boots had been taken. “Oh yeah, that figures.
“Excuse me,” she said, approaching the closest Jeelah. He held up his rifle as a warning and Persephone held up her hands. “Listen, I don’t want to start any trouble. Normally, that’s not true, but right now I don’t know where I am.”
“You are being held by the Lady Olyairon!” the guard growled.
“Babe, you could give me exact coordinates and right now, even that wouldn’t help me out,” Persephone returned. “I’m kinda spinning out of works here. I lost one, see. I lost one of mine. Captain of the ship… responsible for the ship and its crew… and I lost–”
“Get back to your place!” the guard commanded.
“How do I do that if I’m lost?!” Persephone shouted as her face twisted with rage. She smacked the end of the rifle hard with her left hand. She had lost none of her speed, and the guard was not prepared to see a Human move so quickly. He fired into the floor but he was not conscious of that fact, as Persephone’s right hand struck the side of his neck. Before his unconscious body hit the floor, Persephone had his rifle and was firing on the next closest guard. An alarm was activated before Persephone could reach the guard who had flipped the switch. In a heartbeat, Persephone was out of the cell and landing on the chest of another Jeelah, moving incredibly fast and breaking his jaw with the butt of the rifle.
“Cutter!” she cried as she stepped back. A Jeelah female moved passed in front of her, just missing with her claws. “Well, if it isn’t Miss Nothing, back for another lesson.”
“Stand down, Human,” Wora said softly. “I do not wish to harm you.”
Persephone chuckled, though it was clear she was finding nothing amusing. Her body trembled as she wrenched her hands around the rifle and panted almost feverishly. “Listen, you’re a good cigar, so I’m going to throw you a bone, and hope that’s not reserved for the canine-people! Get the hell out of my way, and you stay breathing. Stay there and you’ll be down to eight lives!” The female Jeelah started to speak when Persephone wailed in her attack. Wora ducked under the swing of the rifle butt meant for her head and lunged forward with another electric grip. She screamed when she was shot in the forearm with the rifle. The butt of the rifle then found Wora’s sternum, collarbone and skull.
“Captain,” he said softly, touching her shoulder. Persephone spun around swinging the rifle again. Dungias’ Osamu guided the weapon just wide of his face and the Traveler took a step back. “Captain,” he said in a stronger voice.
“Don’t call me that!” Persephone screamed, firing at Dungias. Alpha caught the bolt and fed the power into its master. Amplifying his strength, Dungias’ fist flew forward and shattered the weapon in Persephone’s hands.
“Captain!” he said sternly, taking hold of Persephone.
“No!” Persephone struggled to free herself and Dungias was surprised at the strength with which she moved. “Don’t call me that! Don’t you ever call me that!”
“JoJo!” Dungias shouted while shaking her body. Everyone in the room jumped at the sound and power of his voice. Persephone came from her delirium and gazed up into his gold eyes. She did not stare for long as she started to cry.
“We will need this room,” Dungias said softly and no one needed any further direction. Mel saw to Olkin and Agatha ushered everyone to the door.
“I lost her, Z,” Persephone cried. “I lost my Cutter!”
“I know,” Dungias said as his grip turned into a consoling caress. “I know, Captain. I know.” With Annsura’s last action being the removal of Alpha from her back before she got on Icarus, Dungias had already visited the moment and knew the woman’s thoughts as she prepared herself for death. He slowly lowered Persephone back to the floor and placed his hand on her shoulders. “She had words before the end, Captain.”
“Dammit Z, if you have anything in your heart for me, you will delete it all!”
“Either you are mistaken, Captain,” Dungias replied. “Or to you, I am barren. For what she means to you… for what she did… you will hear her words. I will be waiting outside until you are ready. There is much to discuss, Captain… much to be done yet. But that will only matter when you are ready.”
Persephone watched him start to walk away and she closed her eyes, not wanting to see him withdraw. “Just outside the door?”
“Just outside, Captain.”
She sighed, waiting for the door of the room to close. She looked at her brace-com, and for the first time in her memory, she resented the device. “It’s not like we didn’t cover this, Nugar,” she said softly. “But I’ll be damned if you didn’t leave out a few details!
“Playback, Satithe.” Persephone could hear the rush of the wind against Annsura’s mask as well as the younger woman’s breathing. It was not nervous or unsteady. It was metered and balanced, and just hearing it soothed Persephone.
“I read somewhere that pirates don’t do long goodbyes,” Annsura said. “But between you and me, you’re the pirate… the best I’ve ever known, see
n, or even read about. And you should know, we’ve all been doing some extensive reading on a couple of wannabes. Me, I’m just your Cutter, so forgive me this one, JoJo. As far as I can remember, I’ve been fighting. You taught me how to win! And at the risk of presumption, I think I know what you’re thinking. You didn’t lose me, JoJo Starblazer. You saved me! Hell, it hasn’t even been three months and it feels like a lifetime! My apologies. You asked me to see to it that you don’t have to replace or bury me. It looks like you’ll have to do both.
“Your goodbye to me can be short, because you are a pirate,” the young woman chuckled. “Mine to you… well, I’ll keep it simple: don’t… you… dare… stop! Goodbye!” Persephone played it back once and then told Satithe to make a hard copy and store it in the vault of her Ready Room.
“That was short enough, Cutter,” Persephone whispered. “Permission to disembark, granted! Give my regards… to the boatman!”
There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, that can circumvent or hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
(III)
(Rims Time: XII-4203.04)
The majesty of the heavens never ceased to amaze her. When she was a child, in the mortal definition of the word, Tolarra Nyss had taken every opportunity she could find to gaze at the stars. It seemed fitting, now that she had been returned to a figurative childhood, to gaze on them once more, while she still possessed some affinity for the miracle of creation laid out in all directions around her. She could hardly recall the child that would run the streets of a small town that was more like a well-fortified outpost. She remembered her running more than she could recall that place.
“Why is that, Isse?” Tolarra asked, feeling the arrival of the woman and her son.
“Running, for you, has been the measure of deliverance,” the entity replied as she stepped through the dimensional breach with her son at her side. It was something of a welcome difference to be detected before her actual arrival. “You consider your level of happiness to be in line with how much you are allowed to run. Or to speak in the manner of the mind you now possess, you’re tired of this shit and man, a good run would feel real good right now!”
“Every time I think I’m ready to put a pin in the opinion of your name being unfortunate, you up and put that vision to use and I just step back, shake my head, and try not to get disgusted by you or your father.”
Opting not to engage in the most expedient conversation, Isse smiled, looking away from Tolarra, gazing at the stars for a brief moment. The stars; they looked different, they felt different, and with the change in the stance of her son, Isse knew he could feel it too.
“Such anxiety,” Isse thought, sharing her thoughts with Zerrell.
“You can’t crush water,” Zerrell projected, “and outer space is just another vast ocean. Something’s going to happen and soon!”
“I agree, my son,” she whispered, patting her hand on his shoulder. “Wait for me in the lower chambers.”
“Yes, Mother,” Zerrell replied before turning to face Tolarra. “Star Lark,” he said with a slight bow. Tolarra turned to put her eyes to his and she watched as he turned and walked inside the castle. She then looked up at Isse who was also watching Zerrell before her smile lessened as she looked back at Tolarra.
“It is done,” Isse reported.
“What is done?” Tolarra asked as a frown interrupted an otherwise calm countenance.
“What you asked of me, Star Lark,” Isse explained. “I have taken your knowledge and experiences, dispatching them to the proper parties. And perhaps I should say that the delivery has commenced. It will be some time before the proper recipients have received your package.”
“You’re lying!” Tolarra exclaimed and Isse frowned in response, silently asking for clarification. “I can read the light coming off of your body right now. You just came from the very place where I found you!”
“That is true. Samjhanna can be so very lovely, especially during its Autumn. But you’re not reading the light coming off of my body,” Isse returned. “If that were the case, I have good reason to expect you would be even more agitated.”
Engaging her vision, Tolarra’s eyes were drawn to an image of Isse looking back at her, waving her index finger in a manner to communicate both disapproval and the fact that whatever Tolarra might have been hoping to see was not going to happen. The Star Lark glared at the daughter of Freund, and for a moment her mind entertained the notion of attacking the white-haired entity. Detecting that sentiment, Isse lost her smile and looked at the floor of the balcony.
“Tell me, Tolarra,” Isse started, allowing her stance to widen, “Are you angry that I did not play into your scheme? Or is it my father’s absence that agitates you?” Tolarra’s opal eyes blinked as her mind processed the question and the points of consideration made therein. “Is that why you gaze on the stars? To revisit a time when you did not know as much, and to taste the sweet relief of ignorance. Would it not be simpler to admit that you miss him?”
“You don’t?!” Tolarra snapped.
A soft smile returned to Isse’s face as her head titled slightly to the left. “Tolarra, I’ve had a lifetime to contend with that issue. Eventually I keep coming back to the same resolve.”
“And what is that?”
“So what!” Isse declared. “Will my tears bring him home sooner? No, and it isn’t because he doesn’t love me. It’s because he loves all of us. Loving a dedicated person comes with a price. A physician can be called away to heal the sick… a constable dispatched to investigate a crime or keep a community safe. My father is a ripper cop,” Isse said, using the lingo that struck the chords of Tolarra’s youth. “He has a job to do and he loves his work. Just where do I insert fault? What are the needs that he left unattended? His rapport with me allows me to feel his soul! All I have to do is look for him and there he is.”
“And just like that she lets me know how stupid I’ve been because that little trick didn’t even cross my mind,” Tolarra thought.
“That’s because you’re not thinking,” Isse explained. “You’re feeling. Trust me, it is only evidence that despite the power you have touched, you’re still wonderfully human. I had to be told about the rapport too.”
“That’s comforting,” Tolarra smiled. “And I guess I will have grown a bit more when I’m not comforted by the shortcomings of others.”
“Let me know when you reach that pinnacle,” Isse returned. “It is a perspective I could stand to embrace.” Both women smiled and Tolarra chuckled for a bit before both women stopped moving and looked up and toward the blue star that was light years in the distance.
“Baby,” Tolarra sighed.
“Father,” Isse whispered.
“In the passing of thoughts and conversations, I have been called many things,” Freund said as he strode from the shaft of light onto the balcony. “But at this moment, the greatest estimations falls short of the truth. Only gods feel this way!” Freund’s landing position was strategic and it allowed him to embrace both women at the same time. It surprised Tolarra to feel Isse’s arm wrap around her, but there was nothing unwelcome to the feeling and she returned the gesture. “Yes, my loves, I am home.”
“At least for the moment,” Isse replied as she stepped back, giving her father’s shoulder a consoling massage.
“An all too brief one, I’m afraid,” Freund replied.
“Do you want to count me among your enemies?” Tolarra asked as she maintained her embrace of the man.
“I most certainly do not.”
“Then be selfish for one night,” the Star Lark directed. “Take your woman flying.”
“Where would we go, Tolarra?”
“Take me to the stars that give you the warmest feeling. Share with me the motivations behind your dedication to humanity and then send me away.”
“And what makes you think that I–” Tolarra’s eyes flashed to a glowing teal and Freund stopped
speaking. “Have I been away so long?!”
“As long as you had to be,” Tolarra replied, patting Freund on the back. “I am going to prepare for our departure and will await you inside. Isse, it’s been a–” Isse moved quickly to embrace the woman and there was no lack of emotion in her grasp. Tolarra closed her eyes and let her head settle on Isse’s shoulder, wrapping her arms around the woman. “You’re not his blind spot,” she whispered. “You’re not his vision either. You’re his hope! I think I’m finally starting to get it. Be there when I get it wrong?”
“Right or wrong, I am there now!” Isse returned, kissing Tolarra’s cheek. The Star Lark gasped and quickly pushed back, seeing and feeling the death of Elbon, the true death of Laejem. She did not know and yet she did, looking through the light and the stored images. “Why did you let me see– no, you didn’t let me. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude.”
“What happened was not an intrusion,” Isse quickly returned, taking hold of Tolarra’s hands. “I underestimated the intensity of your awareness. I would have preferred to keep that from you and spare you the burden of carrying it. You should know it was his insistence, and he knew the danger involved in ferrying the message.”
“Yes. He did know,” Tolarra said as she started for the door. “Take your time, baby,” she said to Freund before entering the castle. Isse’s left foot slid across the stone as she turned to face her father.
“I can recall one particular tirade–”
“You’ve never been good with ‘I told you so’ statements,” Isse declared with a slight smile. “Yes, I swore that I would never use people the way you did and often do.”
“But?”
“But that was long ago, Father,” Isse admitted. “I was a child. In many ways I still am.” Freund chuckled as he rubbed his chin.
“We all are, my dear. It is the mortal mind that must declare graduations. Lost in that forced complexity is the simplicity of growth. We cry into the world not even able to feed ourselves and when it comes our time to depart, we can only hope that somehow we’ve managed to provide for others. But at no point do we stop being children. What drives us is timeless! The heart… the mind. What carries us is… altogether another matter. The body comes and goes, just like any other rented vehicle.”
