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Chapter 10: Ghosts on the wind.

It's raining. A metallic tang on the air tells me this even before I step outside and the first drops lash against my exposed skin. I turn my collar up and stomp away from Vance's place, pushing through the streets under the light of the false moon. 

Even at this hour, the hive of humanity that is Stratton Station is buzzing. 

As I turn down a side street a familiar sound stops me in my tracks. 

Oh shit. 

A trio of Martian soldiers in dark blue armour chat together on an open com channel that my extremely illegally modified viber picks up immediately. They're not even bothering to encrypt it. 

Marines from the Victorious. 

'Hey Karl, didn't you say your cousin lives on this shitheap?' One of them turns to face another. 'You guna go see him?'

The guy laughs. 'Who, Darel? Na man, that guy's crazy. Trying to start some Church or something, hell I don't know. If I wanted to be preached at I'd have stayed at home with Jenna.' He's got a red skull on his shoulders armour pad and a series of black stripes tattoed on his exposed neck. He's a jump veteran. 

The third guy snorts. He's got a white stripe on his helmet. A rookie. 'Shit, that's rough.'

'Marriage man, it's not for everyone.' The first guy nods understandingly. Blue helmet. Medic. 

I start to back away slowly the way I'd come, hugging the sides of the street. 

'Hell, I ain't ever getting married.' The Rookie shifts his shoulders uncomfortably. 'Nobody's the boss of me but me.'

'Get back in your box Rookie' Red Skull growls. 'Jenna ain't my boss, she knows her place.'

White stipe scuffs the floor. 'Sound like that's with her foot up your ass,' he mutters under his breath. 

'Listen here you little shi... HEY! YOU! STOP RIGHT THERE!' 

I've been spotted. 

I duck out of the alleyway and leg it like a startled racoon. 

'HEY! FREEZE!' Red skull thunders as he hurtles out the alley behind me, the other two a few steps behind. 

'BITE ME TIN CAN!' I bellow as I dive through a throng of giggling rich Earth girls who are clearly on the Station for a wild night out in bandit country. 

'Oh I'll bite you!' One squeals in my ear as I accidentally touch her breast in the general confusion.  

'Ma'am,' I say politely as I squeeze through the press and pop out onto the open street. 

There's an open Martian warrant on my head. I'd like to say this was just a result of mine and Abbie's little jaunt to hijack the Interceptor, but, truth is, it's rather more convoluted than that. 

I run across the street away from the noise of the Martians colliding messily with the Earth girls behind me and dive down a side alleyway, my boots flinging gravel from the street behind me. If they catch me, they'll take me to Mars, try me as War Criminal and publicly eviscerate me... and that's not guna happen. My guts look better on the inside. 

 I'm concentrating so hard on running I don't even realise its a dead end until I almost hit the doorway into a Chinese takeaway. I try the door. It's locked.  

I can hear boots on the gravel behind me. I slide my hand into my jacket, feeling the cold steel of my revolvers grip and pull it from its holster under my arm. I slow my breathing as I heft its reassuring weight in my hand, aiming the weapon down the alley.

I'm not going back. 

The boots come closer and the first Martain rounds the bend. I can see his eyebrows raise in surprise. He tries to bring his gun up. He won't make it in time. My finger tenses on the trigger.

The ground drops beneath me. The gun kicks in my hand as I pull the trigger by reflex and then I'm falling. 

Darkness envelopes me.