Freeport 9 was a strange yet mysterious place.
It was a huge monolithic structure with several branches away from the central core. The space station was located between dangerous gas clouds and asteroid formations, known as the last bastion of civilised humanity for a long distance in any direction. Each self-contained biodome that connected to the core via huge conduits provided an indefinite supply of food and water.
The Zoners were a strange culture. They tolerated all races, all clans, all allegiances. But they would not tolerate violence of any kind on Freeports throughout Sirius, or in any space within two klicks of a Freeport. They were proud of their neutrality and fiercely defended their independence, assisted by their advanced tech and access to the best civilian Very Heavy Fighter available made them powerful guardians of their home.
Tanya, along with several other members of the Orbital Spa & Cruise company docked several hours ago. They had been given 12 hours R&R, or rest and recuperate. Or 'rock and roll'. Or 'ruck and riot', as some of the more excitable and rowdy pilots suggested. The young pilot had chosen to find a quiet bar, that overlooked the Amarus Gas Cloud. She had seen several Corsair ships take off in that direction and heard rumours that the jump hole to the Corsairs home system, Omicron Gamma lay deep within the cloud.
The bar itself was simple, clean and mostly empty. Just what Tanya needed right now. It was, however, off the 'recommended entertainment area' list but Tanya felt it was sufficiently safe for her to hideaway a couple of hours. An hour before, the pilots were debriefed. A flight of Orbital Spa pilots flew back to the Vanguard position, but found only ruined escape pods, wreckage and the remains of the dead pilots. She almost cried when the wing announced there were no survivors. Tanya took a sip from her drink, Sigma Blue, a refreshing peppermint mixture, then swiftly took another sip from a Hok-Kaido, a drink hailing from Kusari space made from 'lemongrass'; it was Kenji's favourite.
She put both glasses down on her table and sighed. If Montgomery had let her go back, perhaps she had a chance to save Kenji. Her friend's last communications were troubling Tanya immensely, what new ships had Kenji referred to? Why were they attacking Orbital Spa & Cruise ships? What were these 'purple' weapons? Tanya was curious, but the desire to find answers hadn't outweighed her grief, yet.
While lost in thought, she didn't notice a group of rough-looking men enter the bar. They were speaking in a language she hadn't heard before, yet somehow understood. The words drifted in and out of her consciousness.
Shortly, one of the group, four in all, had approached her booth and put a hand on her table, speaking in rough universal common.
"Hey, senorita. Do I know you? I have not seen you here before. Are you travelling? Sightseeing? Want to experience some of the local..culture?" he asked, his tone was suggestive. The other three men nearby laughed. Tanya looked up at him.
"Sit down," she said smoothly. The men behind him cheered. He looked at them and winked. Tanya looked up at him over the edge of her Sigma Blue, her green eyes, now no more than narrowed slits fixed on his. "How can I help you?" she asked softly. He leaned in closer.
"I want you. We all want you. We have been following you," he said heavily.
"Oh. That's good to know," she replied, putting the drink down. "And what do you want me for?" she asked, holding to his gaze.
"For..very bad things," he leaned even closer. "We will make you have good time, lady," he smiled revealing broken and discoloured teeth. His breath reeked of alcohol.
A voice sliced into her thoughts, a distant voice. "Training, Training, Training. You are the best. No fear. No remorse." Tanya paused for a moment, her expression changed suddenly, her voice changing, becoming colder, like ice.
"No. You smell," she replied. The man's face was frozen in place as though struck, then suddenly the corners of his mouth turned into a sneer.
"You think to stop me and my boys? You have big 'cohones' for a skinny girl," he said through gritted teeth. The veins at his temples began to throb. The group behind him stopped laughing and moved closer to her booth, sensing violence. Tanya glanced around quickly and noticed the other patrons of the bar were moving away from her subtly.
"If I had cohones, they would be bigger than yours, amigo," said Tanya. "If you want me, you have to take me!" she said and slid of our booth taking a step back. Her hands were loose by her sides.
Deep inside, Tanya's inner voice was screaming; 'What are you doing girl? There are four of them, one of you, they are men, they are stronger, you are weaker, how will you beat them?' Another voice spoke back calmly; 'Trust your training, believe in yourself. Focus your grief, let go your rage'.
"Well, are you going to just stand there?" she challenged. The first man snarled and leapt at her, lust and anger in his eyes.
Both his arms grabbed her by the shoulders, he would take her on the booth table, here and now!
She had underestimated his strength, Tanya found herself being pushed back and raised her arms to prevent him from touching her chest, but twisted suddenly pivoting on the heel of her back foot, the momentum of her assailant's charge carried him past her and into the wall. He smashed his face into the unyielding metal, groaned once then turned around painfully. Tanya noticed he had lost more teeth. He roared and leapt at her again, but this time she stepped in to meet him, ducked under a wild punch and rose swiftly sending her elbow crashing under his chin. Tanya stepped back lithely and swung her other arm around her, the back of her fist catching the side of his jaw, spinning the man off his feet and into a table. He tried to push himself to his feet, but collapsed back and lay still.
The girl looked at the remaining three, the fury in her eyes evident and took a step towards them. The men looked at each other, then charged her together, one tripping over something and tumbled to the ground. She sidestepped quickly and vaulted onto a booth table, lashing out her foot hitting the first in the temple. His head snapped back and dropped without a sound.
Tanya rolled to her feet and blocked a punch then suddenly found herself pinned to the wall, the man had quickly stepped in and grabbed her arms. She moved her head from side-to-side trying to avoid his lips, then without warning snapped her head forwards, bringing her forehead down onto the bridge of the man's nose who stepped back screaming in pain, bringing his hands up to his face trying to step the gush of blood. Tanya sent a right hook, then a left cross into his face, then grabbed his arm and threw him across a set of tables where he too lay still. She looked around and found the other man, who tripped earlier, backing away, fear etched on his face.
"I don't want any trouble, lady!" he stammered. "Don't hurt me!"
She stalked towards him.
"Do you want me?" she whispered. Her right hand came up to her jumpsuit zipper, her fingers slowly closed around it and began to move down. The man's eyes were torn between staring into her eyes and at the ever-increasing sight of her skin, the flush of red at the nape of her neck, heading down towards her bosom. Tanya stepped closer.
"Who do you work for?" she asked. The zipper moved lower. The man completely frozen in place couldn't take his eyes off the first signs of her curves.
"Corsairs. I am Corsair," he replied. Tanya was standing so close now, he could smell the scent of her hair, the curves of her breasts so inviting. Suddenly he looked up. Terrified. Her eyes became cold pits.
"I hate Corsairs!" she hissed. Tanya brought the tips of her fingers forwards in a deadly thrust, her long fingers struck his throat like rods of steel, collapsing his windpipe and causing massive internal damage. He staggered back, clawing at his neck desperately trying to free the blockage of his own larynx. He fell to his knees moments later, then to his back, gasping for air as he slowly suffocated, twitched once. Then was still.
Tanya breathed deeply, then adjusted her jumpsuit. She searched the pockets of the fallen men withdrawing several credit sticks. She calmly tied her hair back and walked over to the barman, who stepped back uncertain. He was a heavy-set man in his fifties, but in all his space-faring career had never seen anything like this.
"Can I help you, miss?" he asked nervously. Tanya placed the four cred-sticks on the bar.
"This should pay for the damage. And I also want information," she said evenly. Her eyes had returned to their natural state, a warm green colour.
"Of course, of course. What do you need?" asked the barman slowly taking the sticks from the bar.
"I want to buy an Eagle. Fully loaded. And I want to learn the fastest route to Sigma 19 from here."
"Yes. Yes." replied the barman. "I will give you a name. Jorg Sorenson. Talk to him. He can help. You can find him here," the barman scribbled on a scrap of paper. Tanya took it, reading it over, then looked up.
"The biodomes?" she asked confused.
"Yes. Best place to hide space ships," replied barman. "Foliage makes great cover!"
___
"Your men failed," whispered the man. He watched the young girl walk away from the bar, leaving the carnage behind. Another man stood beside him and shrugged. He was dressed in a jumpsuit similar to the ones worn by Orbital Spa pilots. His red hair shone under the harsh lights.
"So they did. A shame. I paid them a lot to do what I could have done myself," he lit a cigarette.
"Well they failed. We failed. You know what that means? Our superiors don't take failure well," he replied. Red-head nodded.
"No they don't. That is why I shall blame you." The first man twisted in alarm but it was too late. Red-head fired the gun hidden under his jacket and watched as his companion slid to the ground lifelessly, a hole burning in his chest.
He took a few more breaths on his cigarette, then threw it to the ground, then walked in the direction of the biodomes.
___
Tanya found the biodome written on the paper and shown into another world that lived within the shiny walls of Freeport 9. It was a dark, dangerous underworld where anything could be purchased and sold. Using her family account, she bought an Eagle Very Heavy Fighter and had it equipped with the best money could buy. The ship would be ready in approximately three hours. Enough time for her to get some rest and check the nav route she had paid for.
Returning back to her cabin, she noticed a man waving at her. It was Travis.
"Hi Tanya! Want to go for a drink?" he asked smiling. "This Freeport is huge, have you seen such a thing?"
Tanya walked up to him and beamed a smile back. It was good to meet a friendly face, she thought and considered his offer.
"Sure, sleep can wait!" she laughed. "Let's go somewhere local though, please? I've had enough of the more, rustic dining place today."
"Uh, sure. Whatever you want. Dinner too? I walked by this great place a few levels up. The best in Border Worlds cuisine.."
Tanya laughed again.
"This sounds like you're asking me on a date."
"Well maybe it is," he said, giving her his best charming smile. He extended an arm, which Tanya took hold of. She looked him up and down. Travis wasn't unattractive.
"You know, Travis. You have the most wonderful colour hair, you must tell me what dye you use to get that 'red'!"
___
"Kenji, I'm coming for you. Hold on..."
___
(cont'd)
Edited for your reading pleasure
Edited by - Athena on 9/28/2004 1:01:19 PM