By David C. Daoust
High above, in the pale blue skies, the long wingspan cut over the wind as the great dragon of Twin Crown soared above the starship far below. The minions within were merciless, careless, like beasts… beasts of the worst order. Like a weasel in a henhouse, taking more than just what it needed to feed- instead killing each hen in turn….
One of the spiders that invaded the freighter, split from the swarm, headed directly for the lower decks. A gatling gun dropped from its underbelly, spun for a bit and then burst forth bullets in a blaze. This spider crossed the line, broke the rules. Stole ever so much:
Levy the Quick was an employee of some standing within the Organization. Though his background was lost to those that lived and worked with him aboard the Dirty Damsel. At one time he lived happily with his kid sister in some nameless colony on the moon Rosario. Until one day a gunmen decided to take the cash register of a small shop the pair frequented.
Levy was not known as ‘the Quick’ just yet. When the man turned that gun on his sister, however, his prowess was apparent. Or, would have been, had his sister not been quicker. Levy had to assume that the gunman’s action had made her so frightened of losing him, that she had actually stepped out in front of him. All to protect Levy. Their combined action had scared the already nerve-rattled robber– the gun went off and his sister was dead.
All that simple.
All that horrible.
Levy the Quick was not going to lay down next to her.
Although once he’d throttled the man for his deed, Levy was sad that the man had not instead killed him.
His life might be more complete, if it was Levy that had his face caved in, rather than the gunman. He was not about to hang around and face justice. There was no normal life for this man, not anymore. Even if he managed to get away with his deed, what he did to that man would follow him wherever he went, wherever he worked and lived. He’d always have a shadow over him.
Levy fled, found the Organization; he found his place.
Ever after prone to violence. There may have been someday when he found someone to tell the full story to. To express how he felt… that he knew, had he not tried to move against the man, his sister would not have felt the need to protect him… To express his guilt, maybe then he could find some closure. Maybe he could have finally calmed down, maybe then he could take a breath that did not hurt with loss. But now he’d never know, as the spider drone’s long line of bullet fire nearly cut him clean in half as it jetted through the lower decks of the freighter.
—-
Howard Prim was a man with a thick ridge of a brow, one great big shadow cast over his eye. The human mind reads certain things long before the conscious mind realizes what it’s looking at. Faces are first amongst such things. Being able to recognize a face helped humans in their early ages, when other cavemen were a real threat. More than just recognize, read a mood depicted therein. Being able to decide, extra quick, if they were in danger or not could be the difference between living or dying. Might seem beneficial even in the modern ages, but truth was, at that point, if someone looked scary, it was more likely that they were actually scared. It was strangers ‘happy to see you’, those were the ones that were a threat to the modern man. Possibly just to their pocketbook when they tried to sell them something, especially if they needed to fill that quota before the end of the month. But just as easily, that warm greeting, could lead them to their end.
Ironically, Howard’s life was that of a caveman walking among modern man. Ultimately, he had what he humorously referred to as a ‘resting rage face’. No matter what he did or what he said, if he relaxed his face, the caveman brains of those around him, told them he was cooking up something vile; Like he was going to murder them, plotting their deaths. People were forever weary of his intentions; Hell, Howard Prim had made grown men cry with his presence alone before he was ever out of high school. More times than not, when they realized he was just really ugly they’d try to get him back for scaring them at all.
Howard was convinced, people were far more forgiving of bad deeds committed, than the perceived ones that never happen. This made a normal life next to impossible for Howard Prim. He found his way to the organization, fit right in among the thugs that surrounded him; they did not scare so easily.
Truth was Howard was not even a criminal, he was not prone to violence. He was the most welcoming, friendly, of all the Dirty Damsel’s crew, despite being the scariest looking. Howard worked in the galley as the cook. He was a good cook. He would be missed as the heavy line of projectiles drilled through him.
—-
Chauncy White was Howard’s best friend. He had a lot of the same problems as Howard Prim… not because of the unpleasant visage— because the sheer girth of his masculine body. He didn’t even lift. He said this often, in a deep grating voice, followed by a quick flex, that made the simple-minded muscleman into some sort of cartoon character.
A gentle giant, one may say, as he spent most of his days peeling potatoes. Sure, Dutch would drag Howard and Chauncy out as bodyguards on occasion, though only when he knew there would be no real action. (He was not going to risk his prize cooking crew, when he had a ship full of actual grunts. Grunts that needed to be fed.)
Simple minded, yet born with great strength, put carefully, Chauncy was not an easy man to care for, walled him off from a normal life… Most of Chuancy’s tales involved his friendship with Howard. Such tales would never be heard again for he, too, was torn asunder by the passing battle drone.
—
Jihyo Mulch was a scoundrel, a thief… not to be trusted, but she wasn’t always. She was a city girl from the city-station, Callistipore. One overrun with corridor crews, gangsters, and those that ordered them about. The local turf was that of the ‘Tithelords’.
At this time Jihyo wanted nothing more than to join their crew.
Jihyo was a girl with a puzzle:
Oaklan, a madman, a Tithelord, a local enforcer in fact, brought Jihyo out onto a bridge standing over the local water supply.
Oaklan and his boys frequented the location. Mainly, because he liked dropping people off it. It was easier than killing and the clean-up was someone else’s problem. If he really wanted, or needed them dead, he’d tie them up tight so they couldn’t swim free. Other times he’d just drop the victim off; maybe they could swim, maybe they’d drown. It didn’t matter to Oaklan, he got his point across.
Oaklan and his boys brought Jihyo out there to have a little chat. She thought she knew what it was about, she felt safe; among her friends. They had started coming around to check on her quite a bit, make sure she was okay and had what she wanted. This was the first time they brought her out somewhere.
Jihyo was surprised to find the other man there.
A man Jihyo recognized immediately. She had met him during the ArkLight Festival. He was working the back part Xu Xian— a kind of serpentine dragon puppet. A massive thing with an anti-gravity spine, that the Callistopore teens would snake through the city streets during the festival. The pair had met there, underneath the massive form. She had watched him work his stick, he really put his all into it. Which was good, everyone knew the more you did underneath, the better Xu Xian looked to those they passed in the parade. She was impressed– She had told him so. The two hit it off pretty quick. They pretty much had their own little world under there… until the parade ended, and they went their separate ways.
Turned out he was not from the correct part or town, her attitude towards him shifted. She had to assume he was a Taskmaster. Tithelord’s didn’t want nothing to do with Taskmasters; So, Jihyo wouldn’t want nothing to do with him.
Back on that bridge was the first she’d seen him since. Apparently, he got caught on Tithelord turf. They wanted their Tithe.
Oaklan put it to Jihyo, asked her, should he bind the man’s hands or just drop him off?
Jihyo could not do anything but hate the guy, but she didn’t always. In fact, she hadn’t stopped thinking about him since they parted.
Jihyo froze. When she didn’t say anything at all, Oaklan started to bind the man.
Jihyo knew she could just say nothing, the guys would drop him… she’d never have to worry about hating this guy ever again. She stayed quiet, though lost the ability to look the man in the eye as he was bound. Then, she lost the ability to look in the man’s direction. She could not risk them thinking she was with the other guys. She told herself she hated this man, hated him more than anyone could ever understand.
Jihyo heard him drop off the bridge. There was a moment where she felt like she was free. She reveled in this murder, she never had to think about that guy ever again. Something broke then, something felt hollow, like her actions sent her into the wrong version of reality.
Oaklan’s sudden shift in attitude only amplified the effect. He wasn’t done. He looked angry, cold. He wanted to know how Jihyo could let them do that? The whole gang was under that dragon that day. They all watched them glow. How could she let this befall him?
They grabbed Jihyo next.
Jihyo was freaking out, telling them she wanted to be a Tithelord, wanted to be one of them. Told him how much she hated the man… it was not enough. She could not make sense of what had happened.
Oaklan said they wanted to see what she was about, now they knew; They knew she could never be trusted. They said she would never be a Tithelord and they could not have any witnesses.
It was a long drop down to the water. Jihyo hit the water completely bound. She dropped like a rock. She thought she was dead for sure. But then she felt someone grab her arm, pull her up, help her swim to shore.
It was the guy she’d let them bind, that saved her. Jihyo would find out later that they undid the binds when she lost the ability to watch. She’d never been so relieved, not just to be alive, but that it was him that saved her. And that he’d survived.
Jihyo had finally broken through that barrier that did not let her accept the man. A barrier that somehow turned all that she felt for him into hatred. A barrier that could not let her face the fact that she loved the man.
Jihyo would never figure out how the man managed to forgive her, but the two fled Callistopore, fled the Tithelords and the Taskmasters for good. The couple got married on Halfhul, and earned a job on the Dirty Damsel.
A happily ever after that got cut short by the same line of blazing fire that killed Levy the Quick, Howard Prim, Chauncy White, tore through Jihyo Mulch, and quickly thereafter thrust her husband back into their cabin by her corpse.
An unforgiving, continuous blast of bullets drilling through the corridor that now barred down on another crewman. A line of fire that was suddenly extinguished, inches away from said crewman, as twin missiles suddenly plunged into the offending Battle Drones side and blew it to pieces.
Missiles fired by the second spider drone that had just appeared outside the corridor. Someone with access to the right comms would suddenly hear a little girl’s victorious ‘woot!’, followed by another young girl concede that ‘that was definitely another way to deal with it’, as the spider spun about to seek a new target.
The saved crewmen sighed a sigh of relief just before jetting for safety; this man’s name, his life, his story, would yet remain his own.
This, a list of those slain by only one attacking drone, among the throng that invaded the Dirty Damsel.
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