It Only Takes a Pebble to Make a Ripple in a Peaceful Stream (Closed)

[Dragon Fae]

I reluctantly ran. There was nothing I could do for her now...my beautiful Sliph. When we finally reached the ship, I turned to him, needing the codes to get in. The adrenaline from the explosion had steadied my hand and nerves somewhat. The only thing keeping me going was knowing I had to keep moving to stay alive. I did not want to die.

 

[Enyhk]

He gave her the codes, reciting them as the dead man told him. Chaos in the landing bay kept attention focused there. Even as she worked on the door he tossed small packets of something towards the fuel hoses. The terrible tragedy in the pad wasn't going to be limited there. It is amazing how fire spreads. He knew well how to create chaos. While she was focused on getting the door open Enyhk took that moment to relieve her of that rather deadly crater gun she toted. He would give it back to her after she calmed down. He didn't want to have to look down the barrel of it... again. With luck she wouldn't notice the lose until she tried to pull it on him... again.

 

[Dragon Fae]

I whispered the code over and over repeatedly as I heard him doing something behind me. Focusing on the codes, I punched them in. Quickly getting inside the ship, I turned back, seeing the chaos he had created. I could barely see the flames licking the distorted hull of what was once my ship. A sob choked in my throat as I saw it. All that I had left...everything tied to who I once was...my home...my family...everything...gone....gone because of this man.

I lunged at him, beating my fists against him. "You piece of...! Damn you! Damn you!!" I cried out. "She was all I...she was all I had left!!!" More curses came out of my mouth as I beat him.

 

[Enyhk]

He stood there, taking her fists against his chest, she was not strong enough to break ribs but still it hurt. He braced himself on the ramp Hydralics as she struck him over and over. He permitted her a whole three minutes before catching her by the wrists, tightening his grip until the pain got through her grief. He pushed/walked her up the ramp until he could close it with a push of her fist.

"That," He said softly "Is enough. You have a ship to fly. You can hate me while you see to getting us into the air and out of this system." He let her go and stepped past her "I will see if there is an isolation cell." He walked down a corridor looking into the rooms as he went.

 

[Dragon Fae]

I cried out in pain, trying to wrench my wrists from his grip but unable to match his strength. I grimaced as he squeezed them tighter and walked me up the ramp. I shuddered in fear at his voice, always so calm, always so deadly as he finally let go of me and moved away. I tried to spit on him as he passed me, but he was too far ahead. '

Running my hands through my hair, I looked around me, wishing I was anywhere but here. Hearing the muffled ruckus outside, I knew I had to get us out of here. We would not be ignored forever. Slowly, I went to the cockpit, looking over the controls and doing my best to figure them out.

Through trial and error, I managed to warm her up and a short while later start her thrusters and lift her from the docking bay. She was not so different from many of the fighters I raced. True, she was more sophisticated than I had seen before. Still, there were few ships of her size that I could not fly.

 

[Enyhk]

Enyhk found what he was looking for, a small isolation cell. His first task was to shatter the locking mechanism. After that he simply walked into the small prison-like cell, dropped his belongings on the floor before he removed the overalls. That he tossed out into the hall, it was camoflage nothing more. His own clothes however he reverantly removed and folded and placed his weapons on the pile before curling up on the small cot.
"There was an Isolation Cell!" He called out loudly. "Check for any form of beacon that isn't standard issue. It probably should be disabled."

 

[Dragon Fae]

Just as I started getting used to the controls and had us moving away from the port, I heard his call for the beacon. I had not thought of any homing devices these ships might have. Searching the panel as I tried to also watch where we were going and get the hyperspace route entered, I finally found the switch. Hitting it, I was prompted for a code. Punching in the same number as outside the ship, I watched as I received an "Access Denied" message and then the switch flicker.

Muttering in broken Huttese, I reached into my pack and pulled out a few computer spikes. It was the only way I knew how to shut the beacon off.

 

[Enyhk]

Enyhk slept, he needed it. The beacon while code locked did not prove to be too difficult for Zarah to outwit. Soon that beacon was shut off. The ship was better armed than her freighter and while of smaller cargo size looked approaximately the same size.

 

[Dragon Fae]

Once I got the calculations in and the green light, I activated the hyperdrive. The blur of the stars into lines usually made me sigh with relief, but this time it did nothing for me. The further we were from the cluster, the more I felt as if my heart had been ripped out.
My hands started shaking again as I sat back in the chair and leaned my head back. I felt exhausted, but to close my eyes...no, I did not want to see it all play out again. Removing the satchel from my back, I pulled out a stim and let it do it's magic. Feeling the surge of energy, the sleepiness quickly faded. Unable to sit still and let my mind just wander, I rose from the seat, going over the controls one last time before deciding to take a look around the ship.

 

[Enyhk]

Everything in the ships ID and designation files declared it to be an Armed Courier build by a Core World shipyard, one of many similar designs. Everything Zarah looked at however told her this ship was not retrofitted to its current purpose. This ship came from the Anaxes shipyards built for this purpose. It had military grade weaponry, Fleet service bracing around every hatch and stores to keep it in space for months. The life support systems were also Military issue. The four quarters were rigged for double occupancy though only one rack was being used in each room.

She went through each room in turn and found much the same thing, precious little in the way of personal belongings, a wide array of 'official' outfits for most of the outer systems, every thing from port authority to Republic Security with the documents to match. The Med bay was outfitted like a battle-field med station with an overabundance of supplies. This ship was fitted for long runs between portages.

 

[Dragon Fae]

These guys meant business. Never had I seen so elaborate a ruse before. Sure, every smuggler had some little surprise in their ship, but not this much. A cold chill ran down my back as I realized what kind of men I had hunting me as well. No one would be the wiser, not even I that they were other than who they appeared to be. If any of my acquaintances were approached by these guys, would they dish out any information about me to save their own necks? Would my gut always kick in with enough time to spare? I did not want to risk my life on it.

In the Med bay, I scavenged for stims and stuffed them in my satchel, leaving only a few behind for medical emergencies. I wanted to hide them before my "passenger" got any bright ideas. Then, wasting no more time, I went back to the cockpit and sat down at the console, my eyes fixed on the screen as I tried to access the ship's logs and database. If there was a way to learn about the hunters, learn personal information, even find their personnel files, I would be better equipped the next time we met.

 

[Enyhk]

Accessing the logs and files did not prove too difficult. She found many entries about Enyhk, they'd been hounding him for the better part of a year. The logs spoke of a tracking echo that would appear in most port traffic, it came from his mark, when it was able to create enough of a feedback loop it would trigger a pulse beacon that the log spoke of as if was in any port, possibly every port. Was that possible? There were a few messages from a man named Hadren Oriod. He had to be the Hunter. His cultured tones gave orders to the men of this ship and they didn't seem to hesitate to obey them.

 

[Dragon Fae]

Hadren Oriod. Now I had a name.

I got out of the logs and leaned back in the chair, looking out the viewer, thinking upon what I had learned. The feedback loop that he spoke of was seemed to be more serious than he had first told me. I had seen it render my...my...

I closed my eyes, unable to even think about it as I heard that horrible explosion and groaning of metal in my mind. Why did he do it? No, I know why he did it. I know we had to do something to cover up the bodies and our trail, but it did not make it easier. I should have done it ages ago, but I could not bear to part with her. She was the jewel of my father's eye and the only home I ever knew. I had good memories there that overshadowed the bad.

A sob choked in my throat as I shook my head and dug my fingers in the pilot's armrests. Bending forward in my chair, I buried my head in my hands and just let it all out. With the ship gone, I was forced to finally let go after all of these years.

 

[Enyhk]

From his cell Enyhk heard her crying, he did have keen senses afterall. He understood her attachment to her ship, at least on an intellectual level. Even he admitted do himself that he did some things out of a sentimental attachment to the past. The way he folded his clothes for instance... It was the only thing he remembered from his mother, "Here's how we fold the clothes..." He could still remember her saying in a cheerful voice, she even had a silly song that went with it and after all these years he could still recite it and did so when he needed to sleep despite the pain of wounds or situations. They hadn't wipped it all away. But her tears he couldn't wrap his mind around, she was alive. As long as there is life there is hope. What more could a person ask? He listened to her muffled sobs as he lay there on the hard bed (slab of metal that it was). He wondered and not for the first time why he saved her, something made him do it, something made him say please... No answers came.

 

[Dragon Fae]

Once the tears had subsided, I felt empty inside. I had drawn my legs up in the chair and wrapped my arms around them, just like a child as I stared out the viewer and sat there for thirty minutes or more. A part of me thought about checking on Enyhk, but I did not know if I could even bear facing him. Still, it had been over two and a half hours since we made our escape. He deserved to at least know what I had learned and where we were going.

I put my feet to the floor and got up, stretching before heading down the hall. The only stop I made was for some water, grabbing a bottle for myself and one for Enyhk. The closer I got to the "cell", the more my resolve seemed to falter. Pushing myself onward, I hoped that he was asleep.

 

[Enyhk]

Enyhk was somewhere between sleep and wakefulness, that was where he was most of the time he spent 'sleeping'. He wasn't sure if he could truly sleep anymore without being seriously injured. He heard her approaching and sat up so when she reached the open door she found him upright, his bare chest crisscrossed with long slash-scars, punctures from blades and slugs plus others that showed signs of crude surgery. He just looked at her, his eyes reflective in the dim light that filtered into the Cell.

 

[Dragon Fae]

I was a bit surprised when I saw him awake, stopping dead in my tracks and just looking at him for a long time. His body bore the scars of numerous battles, battles that all were for his life. I held the bottle of water up and shook it a little seeing if he wanted it before stepping only close enough to toss it to him.

"I set the course for Myrkr. I figured it would be good to lay low for a while so they might take the bait," I told him, unscrewing the cap of my own bottle and watching him warily. "It's a long journey, but we have the supplies for it. We should make it in about three standard days."

 

[Enyhk]

"That is a world in the Inner Rim is it not?" He asked as he caught the bottle. Deft hands opened it and he took a swallow. "They will not think to look that far in just yet." He said. He looked at the bottle he held for a moment, almost mesmerized by the swirl of light amidst the water. "It will give us time to decide how best to proceed."

 

[Dragon Fae]

I nodded my head and leaned against the door frame. "Yeah," I said, taking my eyes off his scared chest and staring at the floor. "I did some snooping in the ship's log too. This hunter after you. I think his name is Hadren Oriod. He's been tailing you for the better part of the year." I turned my eyes back up to him, shifting my position so I did not block the light shining in on his face. "Anyway, thought you might want to know his name," I finished, making as if I were about to leave.

 

[Enyhk]

"Oriod..." He said, repeating her... "He's killed four Manticores, two of them five spikes... Nirion must have died." He took another drink of water "He was the Master Huntsman when I was released. The Oriods are all lining up to claim the vacancy... He has first kill rights due to his peerage in the Society." He rested his head against the wall. She could see his mind rolling around the information in his eyes. After several moments of silence, he looked at her "Search the Ship again. Make sure there isn't a back up beacon... An Oriod would not let his Coursers run without a way track them..." She could see the frustration in his eyes, unable to search.