Assaulting Laura Jones

STAGE 1: THE MOON

PROLOGUE

"Are you ready?" Mayheen Iglesias asked her once. It was September on the Ukrainian Peninsula—a month of longer dark nights and the start of the countdown towards Christmas Eve. When Mayheen seats next to Jones in front of the space shuttle, she gazes down Flight Instruments at the series of switch and panels, the dashboard light up as the engine ignites. She huffed and looked at Jones.

"Y-yeah," Jones said.

There was silence; they were waiting for the signal to lunch the rocket few minutes from now. "Jones," Jones looked at her eyes, she seems bothered. "Eli and I..." Jones flinched at mention of Mayheen's husband, Eliazar, and then she looked away, breathing slowly. "Yeah?" she said, not really paying attention. Her ears were turning red and her heart was starting to feel heavy. "We broke up, it was a long time ago. I mean, not officially but after he kidnapped my baby that was it." Mayheen said it too fast that even Jones almost didn't hear anything—but she did catch it. "Okay," she said, analyzing what she had heard. After few blinks, it clicked! They broke up. They broke up!

Suddenly there was hope in her eyes, her face glowed. The jealousy and pressure were all gone. "Are you nervous?"

Jones propped into her seat, "Of course" she said looking at her. She caressed her handler's soft skin. This time there was no reason to be afraid. Jones kissed Mayheen so feverishly she couldn't stop herself. "It's my first mission outside the Earth."

"Initiating rocket lunch," Said the ground crew operating the rocket lunch to the moon. They were still kissing, Mayheen pulled away and smiled, kissing the girl's nose. "Get your head working, Masochist" she said, "We're not on a vacation."

The countdown starts...

The space shuttle sky rocketed to the outer space leaving the Earth's atmosphere. As the gravity zeroed, the nuclear boosters of the ship disengaged from the shuttle, making the shuttle lighter. Phoenix was now in control of the maneuver.

"I've never had sex in the space before." She said.

"S-sensei, why on earth are you talking about that right now? We—"

Before I fall too fast, kiss me quick but make it last. So I can see how badly this will hurt me when you say goodbye. Keep it sweet, keep it slow. Let the future pass and don't let go. But tonight I could fall too soon under this beautiful moonlight.

But you're so hypnotizing you got me laughing while I sing you got me smiling in my sleep. See this heart won't settle down. Like a child running, scared from a clown. . Run far away, so I can breathe even though you're far from suffocating me. I can't set my hopes too high coz every 'hello' ends with a 'goodbye'

They traveled an hour before reaching the back of the moon; no sunlight has ever touched its surface. The dark side was freezing hell.

They landed at the border in between the lighted and the darken side. With lesser gravity, Laura Jones and Mayheen Iglesias unscrewed the vent of the moon base. They moved towards the core of the base. Setting their plan B wasn't hard; they were getting closer to the manned section of the base. Laura Jones tackled one man down and duck taped him on the floor. The mission starts here.

"Jones, I'm done with Bravo. I need you to take some of my hair for the DNA scan."

"Okay. Could you watch my back while I'm searching for your daughter? I don't think this moon base is operated by just one man."

"Sure, I'll go walk around and get you some drinks too."

"Thanks, Sensei."

She understood that all this demonstration of glorious beating of keyboards was nothing but to make the Phoenix find her long lost daughter in the thick skin of a large planet, whereon she lived wingless. Laura Jones put the hair strings in a tube to analyze the DNA. The planet was merely turning, she did her counter-mission. She hacked in to the global controls of nukes and military's base. All ground relay stations from Earth was downloaded and encrypted right into her bundle of hard drives. A continuous beeping alerted her of the location of the matching DNA of Phoenix.

"Phoenix, I've found the package. I triangulated her location and it seems like it's in Manila. I can't believe it! That bastard ex of yours took your kid on the other cheek of the Earth! How could you possibly chase a selfish coward? God! I'm downloading her profile now. Meet me at the extraction point."

Sure enough, the tiny screak ran through an inlet and straight out into the long hallway. Here it pitched once and steadied. The Phoenix was not responding. She still had time to think, to struggle with the trouble under her mind. She packed up the hard drives and take out her guns. Suddenly she caught a sight of a figure moving on the chamber next door. She leaped to look. She had not seen an astronaut face to face but this one is an enemy. "Get off me!" she heard a woman speak. Her face became sad and her lips moved soundlessly as if repeating, "No... no..."

Four men flew toward her with the Phoenix in their hands. Laura Jones knew this would happen at some thoughts she had prepared a pair of smoke bombs in her hands, bite the pins off and screamed, "Charlie!"

The Phoenix reacted as soon as she heard Jones. The cans dangled on the walls spraying intoxicating chemical vapors which caught the men off-guard setting the captured woman free. She ran towards Jones. "Go, go, go!" They run so fast regardless of the gravity which made them even faster although almost flying their way out. The British astronauts chased them with gunshots. "Phoenix, they're shooting us! Keep up, Sensei!"

Imagine their surroundings, not as perceived by their senses or by their awareness and emotions but as if human sense organs were portraying to a human brain. This was a sketch of danger, where a predator chases its prey. The galaxy held billions like it. The Phoenix was shot. It damaged her suit and went through her skin.

"Sensei!" called Laura.

"They're rubber bullets, Jones. Keep going I'm right behind you." The British government made it strictly forbidden the use of deadly firearms even at the outer space. Laura Jones had reached the escape capsules chamber, following her behind was Mayheen Iglesias and the bullets after them. The younger woman curled her body to fit into the capsule; she waited for Phoenix to get in. It took her quite a moment to counter-attack. Since they were using real bullets, the moon base rang the alarm on as the oxygen decreased; small holes grew large in relation to pressure difference. It has vacuumed the air dangerously replacing the oxygen with empty space. At last, Phoenix reached Jones' escape pad. "You know you're my favorite student, right?—Can you do me a favor, love? Find my daughter and let her know that her mother never stopped looking for her. I love her so much, Laura." Mayheen said almost crying. "What are you saying? Get in, Sensei! We don't have much time." With that said, Phoenix closed the capsule and locked the coordinates of its destination. "Phoenix, no don't do this please. No...no...stop!"

"Bravo Jones, you have my remnants. My words will guide you forever, my student. Carry on..." her last words rang deep into Laura's soul. It has latched and launched almost motionlessly at first. The tiny ship activated and boosts its speed triple, moving fast away from the moon base. "Sensei! Sensei...sensei...sensei..." Her voice was barely audible to hear.

If I should die before I wake. It's coz you took my breath away. But how do you expect me to live alone with just me? Coz my world revolves around you it's so hard for me to breathe. I just can't breathe there's no air, no air.

She saw Mayheen took off her suit revealing a bloody abdomen, her face show fierce. She was still shooting them down but she was clearly outgunned and outnumbered. Laura Jones entered the Earth's atmosphere burning like hell...