FALAHA'S JOURNEY: A Spacegirl's Account in Three Movements

Episode #14

"Ah, a familiar face. It's the brave, young rescue apprentice. Good for you, boy." The large Medan spat out the word 'boy', his voice oozing with sarcasm as he pointed an assault rifle at us. Though we had never spoken, I remembered him well from the rescue; he was an officer of the Medan Defense Force. My eyes were on the gun: I'd never seen such a model before. Nevertheless, it had the prototype marking of our kennar. The confidence with which the Medan held it told me the weapon wasn't soma-dependent. Could the new gear be the same?

"When I lost one of the hull repairers in the medical block, I told you it was either a malfunction, or the 'heroes' would come out on their own eventually." Another Medan showed up from behind the row of crates. "You never have too many people in one place in a situation like this. And I don't like surprises while operating on a barely known location. So cut the crap, Tarry. Our main problem's solved now. Let's check the block again and throw these two outside. The kids never existed." Also an MDF officer, his sharp features and weird, unpleasant eyes showed signs of genome adjustments. "The last thing we need is a problem with some kennar getting seriously angry with us."

I couldn't tell what his abilities were, but I clearly felt this Baro person was dangerous. His strength looked like it could easily equal or surpass Uncle Orewen's.

"So you pieces o'trash are not alone, eh? Someone took out that machine. Care to share the details with us?" Tarry made a gesture with his head towards the transport gates. "Walk, you two. We're already in the deepest shit, Baro, if we are seen on this ship without the owners. You don't think anyone would believe you found a Danna vessel flying on its own, do you? Besides, it's too late to back down now. So let's have some fun."

Eyuran softly pushed me behind his back.

"What is the meaning of this?" I never imagined his voice could be this cold.

"Well, we politely asked your Commander to drop by another place and he refused. So we had to be more persuasive. Nothing personal, we need this ship and some first-rate counter-Hunter weapons. Now move."

We didn't.

"You guys messed up my dad pretty bad there, so for me, it is personal." My cousin's voice turned completely emotionless, like a colorless ice crystal. "You can shove your reasons up your—"

The next moment he was on the ground, spitting blood, heavily smacked by the gun's butt.

"Chatty kid, eh? Don't make me repeat myself. Get up and get going. You don't want your brains splattered all over rjgnis there, do you?" The Medan twitched his head in my direction. "It's not like you are going to survive anyway, but don't spoil my fun. After all, you people have such awesomely high pain tolerance."

Eyuran's fists clenched. This was bad! He was clearly angry. Compared to me, he usually keeps his cool and rarely lets his emotions take over. But when he snaps, he really loses it. Once he got up, I squeezed against his back and gripped tightly onto his uniform. "Hey, Eyu, I have a plan."

I felt him loosen up a bit.

We started walking towards the gates. And I was racing against time to come up with something crazy enough.